Can't Stay Away
by arilovexo
Summary: After Cam learns about Maya's dark past, he realizes she's the one worth fighting for & that no matter what he does, he can't stay away. Cam/Maya
1. Chapter 1

**I happen to really like this idea. So if you don't, that sucks for you. I'm going to update One More Night soon. I have most of the chapter written, I just have to figure out what to write next. **

**KC is Maya's stepbrother again. I personally like them as stepsiblings, but yeah, that's just me. Also, they are out of character... though I tried to keep them somewhat in character. Just expect them to mostly be out of character, but I'm going to try my best. I just don't want to hear about it later, is all.**

**Lots of stuff isn't revealed in this chapter, just saying. But it all be revealed later on. Whoop! **

**Enjoy.**

**I own nothing. **

* * *

To say she was nervous starting at a new school would be a massive understatement. Her hands were shaking hard as her stepbrother assured her everything would be okay as they walked to the front steps of the school together.

To be honest, she really didn't believe her.

They had come to Degrassi to start completely new and fresh. A clean slate since what happened at her last school was a total and complete train wreck.

Starting with… no. _No._ She was not now or _ever_ going to go back and think about it _ever _again.

That was her new promise to herself. Move on. It never happened.

But the voice in her head kept saying_, "Sure it didn't really happen. Just think what you want,_" over and over again.

Blinking back tears, she allowed KC to open the door, and walked through it, following close behind him as he walked to the front office together.

"May I help you?" A woman asked them, her glasses falling down to the bridge of nose. She didn't seem very nice and that only intimidated her further.

She cleared her throat, and nodded. The woman looked at KC, then back at her. "Can I have a name?"

She looked helplessly at KC, and then brought her hand up, but the woman rudely cut her off.

"We don't tolerate gang signs here."

"She wasn't doing any gang signs." KC rudely responded. "Her name is Maya, can you please help her? And me? We're new here and I'd really like to get to class and get this day over with."

The woman blinked at him, pursed her lips, and then walked to the other side to the door marked 'principal'. It opened a moment later, and someone who they both assumed was the principal walked up to them.

"Ah," He smiled at them. "Our newest students, Maya Matlin and Kirk Guthrie."

"Actually, its uh… KC." He said awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. Maya just nodded her head, smiling at her new principal.

"Right, KC." He smiled warmly at them, which Maya took as a very good sign. Definitely a step up from the bitch they just spoke to a few minutes before. He led the way into his office, and handed them to schedule, telling them some basic rules, and then they were off to their first class.

Maya gripped her schedule in her hand hard, as she walked down the halls, totally lost an oblivious to what was around her. Closing her eyes, she imagined what it would've been like if it was a few months before. Maybe then she wouldn't have felt as alone as she did.

She walked a few feet, before bumping into someone and falling on her ass to the ground. Opening her eyes, she saw _whom _she had bumped into and her eyes filled with tears.

"What the fuck?" The guy cursed, rubbing his head, as he'd hit it on his way down. "Why don't you fucking watch where you're going idiot?"

A tear fell down her cheek as she looked away. She quickly stood up, trying to say something, _anything _(even a damn whisper would've worked) but she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she just _couldn't_.

And it wasn't really her fault.

"What?" He walked closer to her, backing her up against the lockers and causing her to become afraid, memories flooding her mind as she started to shake and whimper, biting her lip. "You have nothing to say? You just made me fall on my ass. All my papers flew everywhere!"

He was yelling at her, she knew that. But still, she just let him. She closed her eyes again and just took it. Whatever he was throwing at her, she took it. Like the little scaredy-cat she was.

"You little—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll make your life hell." She heard, and opened her eyes to see KC standing behind the boy, his features angry as he stared him down. "Step away from her. _Now_."

She still cowered against the lockers as the boy slowly turned around. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone else. Someone about her age, maybe a little older. He walked up to the boy and swiftly turned him around so he was facing him and not KC anymore, clearly ignoring the crowd that had formed around them.

"Leave her alone." He said to him, "She didn't do anything to you."

"She made me fall on my ass!"

"Oh right, big deal. You fall on your ass all the time. For once in your life, this time, it wasn't your fault. Just leave her alone, alright?"

The older boy stared him down, breathing heavily until he just angrily pushed past him, and walked off. He stood there for a moment, before looking at her.

"Are you okay?"

By that point, KC had rushed over to her, and held her against him, rubbing her back as she calmed down. She slowly turned her head towards him and nodded her head.

'Thank you.' She mouthed and he smiled at her.

"No problem." And with that, the bell rang and the crowd broke up. He waved to her, and walked away.

"Maya?"

She looked at KC. "Are you okay?" She nodded, and hugged him tight, letting him know in her own way, that she was okay. "Just be careful, okay? No one knows anything here. So, keep that in mind." She nodded and he softly kissed the top of her head. "Alright, see if you can get to class, I'll see you at lunch."

She bit her lip, and nodded again. He hugged her one last time and then disappeared in the sea of students.

Turning around on her heel, she walked only five feet, before she was stopped again.

"Holy crap!" She turned to see a girl (an overexcited, jumpy, cheerleader, type) with curly dark hair, clapping her hands together. With her, were two other guys, one of them cute in her opinion, but that didn't matter to her.

She wasn't there for him. Or really anyone for that matter. She was just there for a new, fresh start.

"You got Campbell _freaking_ Saunders to defend you! Wait, no. Actually even better, he _talked_ to you. How did you manage that?"

She just blinked at her, not understanding what the big deal was. Though, now she knew what the boy who defended her's name was. Not that that really mattered or anything.

Since she didn't say anything, the girl just looked at her confused. "Do you not speak?"

She closed her eyes a moment, before bringing her hands up, and signing something, but the girl just looked at her like she was an idiot.

"What? I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"It's sign language, Tori." The dark haired boy responded. "She can obviously hear, but she can't speak."

"You don't speak?"

She lifted her hand and made a so-so motion with her hand.

"What does that mean?"

She signed again.

"She said she can hear, but not that well. It's hard for her talk because of it."

"Oh." Tori said, her tone emotionless. She turned to the dark haired boy. "You know sign language?"

He nodded, "My mom took a class when I was younger and had taught it to me from the very beginning. Plus, my brother's deaf… so yeah." He looked at Maya. "I'm Zig, by the way."

"Yeah, and I'm Tristan. This is Tori." The other boy said, pointing at the girl. "But you already know that."

Maya nodded.

"That's kind of cool." Tori finally said, "You know, sign language. I've always wanted to learn."

'_I could teach you_.' Maya signed, but looked at ZIg to interpret.

"She said she could teach you."

Tori nodded. "I'm so down. Zig could even help!"

"Thank for volunteering me." Zig joked and Maya laughed.

"Shit guys." Tristan (was it?) looked at his watch. "We're ten minutes later for class."

"Crap!" Tori quickly grabbed Maya's hand. She didn't move though, "You and I—we're gonna be great friends. Actually all of us are." She smiled at her, "Come on, we'll take you to your first class. Where is it?"

Maya pulled out her schedule and showed it to her.

"Perfect! Most of your classes are with us, except for maybe the last one, but whatever. It's fine." She let go of her hand, and immediately linked their arms, and together the four of them walked to Maya's first class at Degrassi.

* * *

Maya noticed a few things in her first class.

One, it was a French class.

Two, it was—for some reason—in a Spanish class. Which made absolutely no sense to her.

And three, the boy who had defended her was in it. She remembered Tori saying his name was Campbell.

"Hello, Miss Tori, Mr. Tristan, and Mr. Zig. May I ask why the three of you are late?"

Well, this was going to be fun. She could already tell her teacher was a hardass. Whoopdeedoo.

"Yeah, we were showing the new student around." Tori gently pushed her forward. "This is Maya."

"Well, hello. Miss Maya. I trust you understand we don't tolerate tardiness here, am I correct?"

Maya nodded. She figured it was just like that in every school. The teacher pursed her lips, reminding Maya of the woman in the front office earlier that morning. Walking to her desk, she picked up some papers, and then read them over a moment, before nodding her head.

"Alright, you may sit." She told her, she pointed to a seat, and Maya followed the finger all the way to the other side of the classroom, where the big windows were that showed off the football field. And also who she'd be sitting next to.

She looked at Zig helplessly.

'_Are you going to sit with me?' _She signed, but he shook his head.

"We're going to sit there, unfortunately."

She bit her lip and nodded, going over to where her teacher had pointed out. She sat down, and stared at the desk, feeling the tears come back. She thought of her past life, where she was happy, carefree. Nothing brought her down.

But in one day, _all _that had changed.

And it wasn't fair.

She felt a tear slip down her cheek and angrily wiped it away, hoping no one saw it.

"Hey." She heard, and looked to her left. The boy, Campbell was trying to get her attention. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

She nodded, and gave him a small smile.

"You sure?"

She nodded again.

"Mr. Campbell. No talking." The teacher informed him, he just rolled his eyes, when a moment later, they lit up. He opened his notebook and quickly wrote something down, and then he handed it to her.

She picked it up, looking at him strangely, before reading it. _Sorry about Luke, he's a total asshole. Just ignore him and you should be fine. _

She looked up at him and he motioned for her to write something back. He handed her his pen, and she took it, quickly writing something down.

_Why did he get mad at me? I don't understand. It was an accident. _

She blinked at that last word.

_Accident. _

That shouldn't even have been a word in her dictionary. She hated that word; she hated it so damn much.

"_It was an accident what happened, Maya. It wasn't your fault._"

"_You shouldn't blame yourself." _

Angrily she scratched it out, and replaced it with another word—or actually a few other words.

_I didn't mean to do it_.

It was technically the definition of the word, but whatever.

Same damn thing.

She handed it back to him and a moment later, got a response.

_I know, like I said. He's an asshole, just ignore him_.

She nodded her head in response, and then wrote something else down.

_Why did you defend me_?

It took a while, but soon she got a note handed back to her.

_Because no one should be treated like that. Especially for something that wasn't even their fault, you know? He was just acting like the jerk he is, and clearly bullying someone he shouldn't have. I don't tolerate it, so I decided to step in and help. _

She looked up at him and gave him a smile. He smiled back at her.

'_Thank you_.' She mouthed for the second time that day.

The bell rang soon after that and he stood up, going over to her, he stood in front of her and she stood up looking at him confused.

"You know, this is when you usually give your hero a hug." He pointed out, spreading his arms wide.

She raised her eyebrow. Quickly writing something down on the paper, she handed it back to him, before smirking, and grabbing her things. She then waved at him and walked away, a confident look on her face.

Looking down, he read what she had written and couldn't help himself.

He smiled too.

_Well, maybe that hero has to work harder for that hug. I don't just give them away for free you know. _

* * *

"What was that?" Tori asked as soon as she stepped out the door. "You've been here like an hour and you've morphed Campbell from a kind of quiet guy to… I don't know, something else! And what was with that flirting, missy?"

Maya smiled, '_I was just having fun_.' She signed, and then sighed a moment later. '_Was that so wrong of me_?'

Tori shook her head. "Hell no. That was amazing!" She squealed and hugged her, causing Maya to stumble backwards. "Major credz though, seriously. I don't have nearly the guts to do what you just did. Good job, Maya."

Maya nodded, thinking that maybe Degrassi wouldn't be such a bad school after all. She had to learn to like it after all. Just as long as her secret didn't get out, it was all good.

If only high school was that amazing. But, of course, it wasn't. And she was going to learn that the hard way.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, because I felt like I owed an update, I decided to combine two chapters into one. Aren't you lucky? I also wanted to progress Cam & Maya's relationship a bit more. Here, they're getting closer. She kinda reveals a bit about herself to him and he does the same. She likes him and he likes her, you can tell. Not hard to miss. Sorry for giving it away, but yeah. This is long as shit, so I hope you enjoy it. **

**As for One More Night, I will update it soon. I just have two reasons for why I haven't updated it yet: my laptop sucks and I decided to go a completely direction with the pregnancy confession to Cam. So it may or may not be happening the next chapter. Just so you know. **

**As for the others, I'm working on them. It's just a slow process because I've been so busy with school. **

**I also want to explain a few things for this chapter. If it's bold like this then it's Cam texting her. If it's just italics, then it's her texting Cam. If it's italics with one quote around it, it means they're speaking in sign language. And if it's normal, then it's dialogue. **

**There's also a flashback and in that, Maya can hear fine and she can speak. See if you can guess who she's speaking to. If you guess right, I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter, because you're just fucking awesome and deserve it. **

**All of what happened to Maya will soon be revealed as will a bit of Cam, KC, Jenna's and everyone else's past. But mostly just those four. Trust me when I say, the drama will happen soon enough.**

**Alright, enough talking...or in this case, reading? I don't know. Sorry for any grammatical errors. I'm updating this at like two am. Anyway, I should really stop rambling on. Read and review! **

* * *

"Hey."

'_Hi_.' She waved at him and smiled.

Cam sat down beside her on the bench. "So, I have practice in five minutes, but I wanted to come say hi." He looked at her notebook, curiously. "What are you writing?"

She quickly closed it and looked at him. She just blinked and stared at him.

He tried again.

"What are you writing?" She still stayed silent. She wasn't sure if he knew sign language or that she had trouble hearing. So instead of saying anything, she quickly gathered her things together and stood up. She then stretched to show she wasn't trying to hide anything, and then turned around without another word.

"Wait!" Cam called after her, and she stopped, slowly turning on her heel, she faced him. He quickly caught up to her. "Don't be scared."

_Scared_.

That was an interesting word.

She was scared all the time. Just because she and KC escaped didn't mean they were safe.

She looked at him, blinking her eyes.

He ran his fingers through his hair, "I don't know why you won't talk to me, but okay. I see you don't want to be bothered, so I'll just go." No, no. She didn't want him to think she didn't want to talk to him, so she held one finger up, and pulled her phone out. Quickly typing something, she held it up to him a moment later.

_I do want to talk to you, I just can't. It's hard to explain._

He looked at her strangely, but nodded. "Alright, then. I'll see you tomorrow I guess?" She smiled and nodded. He smiled back at her, "Cool. Yeah, very cool." And with that, he walked down the hall, giving her a wave goodbye.

She waved back, and calmed down. Closing her eyes she thought of him, and how cute and adorable he was. He just took the time to talk to her (even though she couldn't really talk back) and risk being late for practice, which she heard was against the law in hockey or something (though that seemed like bullshit to her).

She turned around and walked down the hall to KC's locker, where she found him with his head inside it, and a blonde girl talking to him. She walked up to it, and smirked. Hitting it with her fist, he shot up, hitting the top of it, and held his head in his hands, glaring at her.

"Why, Maya. Why?" He groaned, rubbing his head as she and the blonde girl laughed.

"Nice job!" The blonde girl smiled at her, but was looking at KC. "Didn't think you that much of a klutz."

KC glared at Maya, "I'm not really. Thanks to my dear stepsister over here, I just come off that way."

Maya giggled, '_No problem, big bro._'

"You sign?" The blonde girl asked, and Maya nodded as KC went back to whatever it was he was doing before so they could talk.

'_I'm partially deaf. I can't really talk much_—' Actually she hadn't since the incident, but she wasn't going to tell her that. _'So I sign. Do you know sign language?_'

The blonde girl nodded, '_Yeah, I learned when I was a kid. Before my mom passed away she would teach me. She thought it would be good for me to know later as I got older. I have to say, I love it_.'

Maya looked at KC, noticing he was looking back at her a smile on his face. She clapped her hands excitedly.

'_Yay! Now I know three people who can understand me_.'

"Wait, how were you talking to that boy?" KC asked her. "Does he know sign language?"

'_Wait, how did you know I was talking to a boy?'_ She signed, then put her hands on her hips, glaring at him.

"I saw you, it wasn't hard to miss, Maya." He told her like he was informing her of big news.

She glared at him more.

"Hey, don't be mad at him." The blonde girl said. "It's not his fault he's so protective of his sister." She affectionately squeezed his shoulder, and Maya's eyebrows went up once KC blushed, the blonde girl smiled.

Maya then smacked KC.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, Maya?"

'_You never introduced me._' She motioned in between herself and the blonde girl.

"Oh, right." He motioned to Maya. "This is my stepsister, Maya. But you already know that." He gave Maya a look. "And this—" he motioned to the blonde girl, "is Jenna."

Maya smiled, '_I love your name! It's so pretty_.'

'_Thank you, yours is beautiful_.'

Maya smiled, she turned to KC. _'I like her, please keep her around_.'

Jenna and KC laughed. "I'll do my best, sis." He said, and then closed his locker as the bell rang. "You know, we've only been here about two days, and already, I'm sick of that bell."

Maya laughed, '_I'm lucky I guess. I can't really hear it._'

"Damn you." KC responded. '_You're very lucky._' He signed to her, and Maya nodded.

'_I know_.'

"Come on guys, get to class." They heard, and Maya looked up to see a teacher moving his arm around, trying to get the students to get to where they needed to be.

'_Guess I'll see you both later_.' Maya waved and walked off. She was on her way to her History class, when in the corner of her eye, she saw a guitar. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of the last time she'd played it, and without really thinking about it, walked into the empty room and picked it up.

It was acoustic. The guitar she loved the play the most, though it was mostly because she didn't have to take more than just the guitar with her whenever she went somewhere.

She sat down and positioned the guitar where it needed to be, before placing her fingers on the strings. She was about to strum, when she stopped herself, her hands shaking, she gently put the guitar down and backed out of the room. She crashed into someone and looked up to see it was both Zig and Cam.

She opened her mouth to say something, but realized that she couldn't. She tried to sign something, but also found that impossible as well. Her body shaking, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down as she faintly heard them ask if she was okay.

Her eyes opened as she realized two things: Cam didn't know she wasn't able to talk or hear well; but Zig did.

Crap.

She hadn't realized it, but tears were streaming down her cheeks as the boys steadied her. She wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, but heard a few things.

"Why isn't she saying anything?"

"Because she can't talk."

"Why not?"

"She can't hear well."

And then she passed out.

* * *

She woke up, feeling groggy, her head hurting as she slowly and dizzily sat up. She felt slightly nauseous as her vision became clear and focused on the person in front of her.

Cam.

Shit.

She blinked at him, and he looked up from the game he was playing on his phone to smile at her.

"Hey, you hit your head pretty hard. Are you okay?"

Maya bit her lip, and nodded. It was awkward and silent as she couldn't really communicate with him, since she wasn't sure he knew sign language.

"Uh, Zig told me. About uhm, how you can't hear well, and that you communicate with sign language. I didn't know, so I'm sorry."

She blinked, and then looked around for her bag. Cam gave her an amused look and then handed it to her. She pulled out a notebook and a pen, and quickly wrote something down. He took it from her and read it.

_We can communicate this way or by text if you don't know any sign language, if you want. Or I could teach you._

He looked up at her, and instead of saying anything, motioned for her to give him the pen. She slowly handed it to him, and he wrote something down, before handing it back to her.

_I could learn sign language. It's always seemed interesting to me… and I've always wanted to learn._

She smiled.

No guy had ever said that to her before. Since the last one—she slowly shook her head, trying to forget about it. She didn't have a relationship with him and therefore didn't exist.

He was writing something else down, and being Maya, she got impatient. She tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up at her.

She signed something and he looked at her clearly very confused.

She pointed at the notebook, and he handed it to her, opening it to a new page, which she didn't pay much mind to at first.

_Alphabet_.

He nodded, "Okay. Show me." He smiled at her, causing her to feel more confident and less shy.

She signed the first letter, '_A_'.

He copied her and she clapped excitedly.

'_B_'.

He did it and she started to clap again, before thinking better of it, and instead, put both hands in the air, rotating her wrists, her fingers spread apart, making an adorable face as she did, smiling a bit.

She took the notebook from him, _applause_. She wrote and he nodded in understanding. _It's what deaf or hard of hearing people do instead of clapping._

"Ah, I understand now." He gave her another smile, and she felt her heart flutter and immediately wondered what it meant.

Hopefully not what she thought it did.

She waved her hand in his face to get his attention and he looked at her.

'_C_'. She signed and he copied her.

She continued to teach him the signs and were able to get up to _R_, when the door opened and someone who she assumed was the school nurse stuck her head inside the room.

"Maya are you okay? You took a pretty hard fall there. You should thank Campbell here, he rushed you right in. And from what I understand here in your file is that you've had quite of a few of those?"

Cam's head turned to her so fast, she was slightly frightened and feared for his neck.

"You've hit your head before?"

She shook her head, quickly grabbing the notebook, she wrote something down, _I fall down a lot, it's really not that big of a deal._

"Yes it is!" Cam exclaimed, but then quieted down when the nurse gave him a look. "We're going to talk about this later." He told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm just happy to see you're awake." The nurse told her pointedly, and Cam sighed.

"I am too… but isn't that already kind of obvious?" Despite feeling so much tension now, Maya smiled. He actually cared about her and didn't even know her a week yet.

The door opened again and KC ran in, looking around the room, before his eyes landed on hers.

"Are you okay?" He asked, clearly panicked.

'_Yes, KC, I'm fine. Relax, okay? I just fell. No big deal_.' She was getting really sick of people asking if she was alright. So she hit her head, whatever. It wasn't like it was a serious injury. She was okay, and that's what was important.

If only other people saw it that way as well.

"And you are?" The nurse asked KC, but he just waved her off.

"I'm her stepbrother." He said, "I heard from some guy named Zig what happened. He said this guy—" He pointed at Cam, "rushed you in here. Thanks dude, appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem." Cam smiled at him, reassuringly.

"Alright, well since it's clear that you're fine. And you seem to be responding to their questions well, I'll let you go. There's one class left, think you can make it through okay?"

Maya's eyes widened. She was out _that_ long?

"I believe we have that class together. Uh, English." Cam said, remembering he'd seen her there the day before. "I'll walk you, okay?"

She nodded and jumped off the table, bed, or whatever it was, putting the notebook back in her bag, she walked over to him. She looked at KC.

"You'll be okay?"

She nodded, '_I'll see you after school_.'

He nodded, "Alright, see you then, sis." He said, kissing the top of her head before walking out the door with the nurse, leaving Maya and Cam alone again.

He didn't say anything to her, just opened the door and let her pass through before he followed her. They walked in silence all the way to the class, Cam about to enter, when Maya stopped him. He looked to her and noticed her eyes were filled with tears.

She started to pull the notebook out, but he stopped her, handing her his phone. Since they had the same one, she found the notepad and quickly typed something on it, before handing it back to him.

_You don't hate me, do you?_

He looked up at her, noticing how distraught she looked, her eyes tear filled, one tear slipping down her cheek.

"Why would I hate you?" He asked her, "I'm just worried about you that's all. Honestly, I don't think I could ever hate you." He looked down, embarrassed, but Maya just gave him a small smile.

She put her thumb on her chest, her other fingers spread apart and open, she wiggled them. He looked up and tilted his head.

She took his phone back, typed something, and then handed it back.

_It means cool_.

"Oh, well, then… cool." He said, laughing when she rolled her eyes. He looked behind him, "We should probably get to class though." She nodded and was about to go in, when he stopped her. She looked up and wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Cam hugged her.

Like, _really _hugged her. His arms wrapped around her protectively and he held her close to him. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder, hugging him back.

Then all too soon, it was broken and he stepped away.

"I'm sorry. I just… I'm really happy you're okay. That fall you had earlier… it wasn't pretty. But that's all I'm going to say about it."

She nodded understandingly, though she was dying to know what he meant by that, she knew she'd find out soon enough.

* * *

"_Come on, Maya. It'll be fun. I promise."_

_She shook her head. Maya knew she was crazy; she just wasn't sure why she followed her every move like a puppy. It was almost pathetic. _

"_I can't. Do you know what dad would say? He'd kill us!" _

_Her sister rolled her eyes, "You're really not much of a daredevil, I can tell you that." _

_Maya narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, well you act like this badass all the time, but I can tell you're really not one." She shot back. _

"_Points for that." Her sister looked away. "Look, I know you and I are like strangers, but seriously. I want you in my life and I want to have fun with you." Her sister stepped closer, causing Maya to slowly back away. "And I don't mean that in a creepy, sadistic way, because gross, you're my sister." _

"_Half-sister." Maya corrected her, regretting it instantly. _

"_Same damn thing." She said, "We have the same dad, different mom's, big whoop. Doesn't make me less of a person than it makes you." _

"_I wasn't saying it did." Maya reminded her. _

"_Sure, sure." Her sister rolled her eyes. "Look, you're into music. I think that's cool. I'm just giving you a chance to play it in front of a crowd, that's all. Think you can do that?" _

_Maya blinked. Her sister was giving her a chance to play music? In front of a crowd? She could hardly believe it. _

"_Y-yeah. I'm totally down. Like, holy shit. Yeah. I want to and—" She stopped speaking as she realized she had started to ramble a bit. "I would love to!" She finally ended her rant and ran over to her sister, hugging her tight. _

"_Get off me!" Her sister pushed her away, but still had a smile on her face, so Maya knew she wasn't upset. Her sister wasn't exactly the hugging type. _

_After all, her hair was a mix of black, and hot pink and red on the tips. She wondered how on earth her mother let her leave the house like that. _

"_So, you're in?" Her sister asked a moment later, and this time, Maya rolled her eyes. Did she not just say she was? _

"_Yes, you dumbass. I'm totally in. Not like I said that a second before though or anything." _

"_Right." Her sister had a mischievous smile on her face. "Get ready for the night of your life, baby sis." _

_And that's exactly what Maya was afraid of._

* * *

Maya woke up, her heart beating fast as the dream she'd just had brought back too many memories. Especially the first night of one of the biggest mistake she'd ever made in her life.

She put her hands on her face and realized she'd been crying. Grabbing her sleeve she started to wipe them away, but they came faster and faster. She made a quick decision and ran down the hall. She quickly knocked on KC's bedroom door repeatedly until he opened it, looking disheveled and incredibly sleepy.

"Maya?" He yawned, "Why on earth are you awake right now?" He opened his eyes and noticed her tear-stained face. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

'_I had a nightmare. I don't want to go back to sleep. I'm scared_.'

"Scared of what?" He asked her, looking at her curiously. She ran her fingers through her hair, then threw her hands up annoyed.

'_Forget it. Go back to sleep. I'll just talk to you tomorrow._' She turned to leave, but KC grabbed her arm and pulled her with him into his room. Then she hugged her, holding her close, as she started to cry against him.

The memories were there, real and raw, almost like they had happened just the day before. She knew they weren't going to go away anytime soon, but the consequences of what happened, she knew would be with her forever.

Looking up at her stepbrother, she just sighed and closed her eyes again.

Sometimes leaving in a dream world was just easier. At least there, you could pretend there were no problems.

Everything was exactly the way you wanted it to be.

…

"Hey, good morning!" Cam smiled brightly at a very tired looking Maya, who just looked at him, yawning a moment later. His bright attitude soon changed. "You look like you've seen better days."

She brought her hand up and nodded her fist. He learned from her the day before that that meant, "yes".

"Well, anything I can do to help?"

She pulled out her notebook and pen. _Give me a hug?_ After handing it to him, she looked up at him hopefully and he smiled at her.

"You don't have to ask for that, silly." He told her and wrapped his arms around her hugging her close and rubbing her back. "I'm always around to give you free hugs. Though I think you might be forgetting that you owe me one."

She cocked her head to the side, confused.

"Remember? The first day we met, I saved you from Luke. You told me I had to work for it. Now I've given you hugs, don't you think it's time you gave me one?"

She pulled away and quickly wrote something down, ripping the paper out, she handed it to him, before smiling and walking away, a smile on her face.

"That's not an answer! Maya! Maya!" He called after her, but she kept going. "Ah, fine." He muttered, and opened the piece of paper, a smile soon spread across his face as he read what she wrote.

_I know I owe you a hug, but I think you've worked for something much more than that. Here's my number, Superstar. You've more than earned it at this point. _

* * *

**Smart. I like the way you think. You're note made me realize a few things.**

Maya read over the message, a bit confused. The number was unknown, so she didn't have a clue who it was.

_I'm sorry_?

**Remember, you owed me a hug. I think this is much better. But I still want that hug at some point. **

Oh, right. She'd forgotten she'd given Cam her number as she'd hadn't seen him all day since he had hockey practice and then school ended and she went home with KC.

_I forgot, silly me. _

**You have the memory of a goldfish. **

_I know and I take pride in it. What are you up to right now? _

**Not much. Just finished hockey practice. How about you?**

_Nothing. Kind of bored. Want to learn some more sign language? I have nothing better to do. _

**Glad to see I'm your second choice. **

She laughed, _you're actually first over homework. Feel special? _

**Oh, so very special, M. Thanks for that. **

_No problem. So, about that lesson. You in? Or are you too tired from hockey practice? _

**I'm so in. Where do you want to meet? Or do you just want to come over? I'll send you the address and everything to my house if you'd like. **

_Okay. Perfect. _

A moment later, she got the text with his address and stood up, she walked down the hall and into KC's room where he sat at his desk, Jenna on his bed, flipping through a magazine.

"Hey." Jenna smiled at her, "What's up?"

She looked at KC. '_I need a ride_.'

"Okay, where?"

'_To this address.' _She showed him the text. '_I'm going to teach him sign language._'

"Who's house is this?" KC asked her and she rolled her eyes at his protectiveness.

'_Cam's. You know, the guy who helped me the other day and took me to the nurse after I passed out.' _

KC nodded, "Ah, well, I don't think you should go."

Her mouth dropped open. She looked helplessly at Jenna who just glared at KC.

"Come on, KC. Let her go. She made a friend, isn't that a good thing? I'm sure all they're going to do is study or learn sign language. I hardly think that's an invitation for sex if that's what you're thinking."

Maya's eyes grew wide. She quickly shook her head, waving her hands in the air.

'_No, no sex._' She signed, visibly shuddering at the thought. '_I just want to teach him sign language, I swear. He's really interested in learning it, plus it's a way to communicate without having to constantly text or write things down in a notebook._'

"See? No sex. Nothing to worry about." Jenna informed KC, who just sighed, clearly frustrated. He looked in between Jenna and his stepsister before making his decision.

"Fine, I'll take you, as long as you swear nothing else is going to happen."

Maya nodded, '_I'm pretty sure his family will be there. Besides, I'm not interested in him like that. You know I just want to be friends with guys right now_.'

Jenna looked curiously in between them, but didn't say anything. Maya narrowed her eyes, her hands on her hips as KC stood up. He grabbed his keys and motioned for Maya to follow him for which she just jumped excitedly and kissed his cheek. He turned to look at Jenna as Maya sent Cam a message telling him she was on her way.

"You comin'?"

Jenna grinned, "You kidding me? I wouldn't miss this for the world."

* * *

"Okay, I'm coming back in a couple hours. Like I said, no funny business. Understand?"

Maya nodded, rolling her eyes as she got out of the car. She signed a thank you and then walked up the stone pathway to the front door. She rang the doorbell and it opened the reveal Cam, a bright and happy smile on his face.

"Hey, you made it!"

She smiled, and he stepped aside to let her in.

She pulled out her phone, and typed something, sending him a message, his phone went off a moment later and he looked at it.

_Where do you want to learn? _

"Oh, we can go in the living room if you want." She nodded and he led her there, sitting on the couch next to her. He turned to her.

His phone went off. _Do you remember how to sign the alphabet? _

He nodded, "Yeah, I've been practicing, see?" He did it for her and she applauded him.

She picked up her phone and typed something. He looked at his phone.

_There are many ways to communicate, one is finger spelling,which is what you do with the alphabet, another is gesturing and also, pointing at something. You could also draw, write, or text, but basically finger spelling is a good start for you. So spell something out for me. It can be anything you want. _

He nodded, "Uhm, okay." He lifted his hand and spelled out his name. _'C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L_.' He put his hand down. "How was that?"

'_P-E-R-F-E-C-T_.' She spelled back. And laughed, when he clapped adorably and excitedly, like a child. She pointed at him and then spelled out, '_C-U-T-E_.'

"I'm cute?"

She bit her lip and nodded. Despite what she promised KC and herself, she realized that Cam wasn't a bad person. He wouldn't hurt her, she was sure of it.

She felt like she could trust him.

He smiled at her and then spelled something out, '_A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E_,' He looked at her, "I think that word describes you best."

She rolled her eyes and then still smiling, spelled out, '_C-H-E-E-S-Y_.' she pointed at him and he laughed.

"I'm cheesy?"

She nodded. Then typed something on her phone, before sending it off. He picked up his a moment later.

_It's your nickname. Other than Superstar. _

He looked at her, "That I think I can live with."

_Do you have any nicknames for me? _

He looked up at her and thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know if I can come up with anything original. But uh, well, I called you M once before. And I feel like a lot of people call you My, right?" She nodded. "Well, how about, something totally unrealated to your name?"

She looked at him curiously.

"Like… a codename sort of. Like you call me, Cheesy, I could call you… Milky?" His voice cracked at the last word in embarrassment and she laughed.

_I like it_.

"Yeah." He said, moving closer to her, he put his arm around her, and leaned back on the couch, she did the same. "Me too."

_Looks like we're not going to be learning much sign language are we? _

He rolled his eyes, "Alright, teach me something else."

She put both her index fingers and thumbs in the shape of a circle, her other fingers spread apart. She moved them until her pinkies touched.

'_F-A-M-I-L-Y_'. She finger-spelled a moment later.

"Family?" She nodded. He sighed looking away. Shrugging his shoulders, "I don't have much of a family."

_Me either_.

He raised his eyebrows at the last message. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. _I mean that all I have now is my stepbrother. Well and my dad and stepmom, but they're hardly ever around anyways._

"And your mom?"

Maya blinked back tears, feeling them pool at the bottom of her eyes.

_She died. And so did my sister. _

"I'm so sorry Maya," He whispered and hugged her as she just stayed there, tears falling down her cheeks. "I didn't know." She stayed silent so he continued, figuring if she was that honest with him, he could be honest with her as well. "My mom and sister are twelve hours away. I live with a host family." She lifted her head up, "I miss them like crazy everyday, but I know I'll see them someday." He shrugged. "To be honest though, they're not really my real family." She blinked confused. "I'm a foster child."

She made her hand into a fist and moved it against her chest, circling it. '_S-O-R-R-Y'._" She finger-spelled a moment later. He nodded, laying his head beside hers.

"Our families are so fucked up, huh?"

She nodded, biting her lip. She picked up her phone, and typed through her blurry vision.

_You have no idea. _

"Don't cry…" He whispered, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "It's okay."

She shook her head. She signed something and then realized, he wouldn't have been able to understand it. Frustrated, she picked up her phone and typed it quickly, probably spelling things wrong and not making any sense.

_Not really. I ran away from my insecurities and fears. That's why I'm at Degrassi. For a new start. _

He looked at her, "What do you mean?"

She buried her face in her hands; her body shaking as she tried to block the memories, but it was too difficult.

After a few minutes, she calmed down and typed something before throwing her phone to the side and looking at him. She waited for him to read the message and then look at her.

_No one knows who I am here, I can be whoever I want to be. And trust me, this crying mess you see right now, is not it. _

"I don't blame you." He whispered, cupping her face in his hands. "I don't know what you went through and I hope someday you tell me, but uhm, yeah. I don't blame you for getting upset."

She brought her hand to her chin and moved it forward. 'Thank you.' She mouthed, since she seemed to understand that the day they met.

His eyes searched hers for a moment, and hers did the same back. She then wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close. He smiled and hugged her back.

Picking up his phone she typed in something, before giving it to him.

_There's the hug I owe you. And trust me, there's plenty more where that came from. _

He smiled at her and she smiled back, hugging him again, she closed her eyes and just let him hold her, content and happy to stay where she was.

* * *

'_So, tell me. How did it go?'_ Jenna asked her as soon as they walked in the house a few hours later.

Maya gave her a smile. '_Perfect_.' And with that, she went upstairs to get ready for bed. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out to see a text from Cam.

**Miss you, Milky. **

She laughed.

_Miss you too, Cheesy. _

* * *

"Someone's happy."

Maya looked up from writing in her notebook to see Tori looking at her. She sat down beside her, Zig on her other side.

"So, why the happy face?"

Maya signed something and Zig watched her, translating. "She just said she's really happy. And wanted to know if that was a crime."

Tori laughed, "Not at all, sweetie."

Maya grinned, she signed thank you and Zig translated for her. "She said thank you."

Maya laughed.

"Well, I'm happy you're happy. And so is Zig. There's just so much happiness in the air right now."

Maya's phone vibrated obnoxiously, and Tori sighed, looking at it at longingly. No one was really allowed to have phone's in class, but Maya could because of her hearing and that not many people were able to communicate with her unless she typed or wrote it down. Maya picked it up and noticed the name on the screen, smiling.

"Ooh, who is it?" Zig asked her.

Maya didn't answer him, she just looked behind her to see Cam smiling at her and waved his phone in the air. She turned back around and typed something back.

_My friends are super excited. _

**About what? **

_I'm really not sure, lol. But I'm sure I'll figure it out soon. _

**Well, good luck. They seem… interesting. Anyway, do you want to maybe come with me to my hockey practice after school today? If you're not doing anything, I mean. We could hang out afterwards and you could teach me some sign language. **

Maya felt her cheeks turn pink. Tori noticed this, and pointed it out.

"Oh my god, Maya!" She whispered excitedly. "Who's making you this happy?"

She just smiled at her, before typing something back.

_I would love to. _

And with that, the teacher walked in and she was forced to pay attention.

But throughout the entire class, she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

And she was pretty sure she knew Cam couldn't either.

Giggling to herself, she started to write down the notes. She suddenly couldn't wait until it was after school and she was at Cam's hockey practice.


	3. Chapter 3

**So I decided in this chapter, that Cam's hidden talent that was never addressed in the show ever again, was to be addressed in this story. Also, this is a chapter inspired by an episode that I admittedly watched of Austin & Ally. It's my guilty pleasure show... anyway. The song's from there and I felt it fit with the theme of this story pretty well.**

**I forgot to mention, a lot of people are out of character. Like, Dallas and Maya are going to be friends in this, though Luke's going to be a major, major part of her downfall later on. He's still a jerk. And I still hate him, just for the record. He's an asshole.**

**I own nothing.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

The second the bell rang, Maya excitedly ran up to Cam, who put his arm around her. She smiled and looked at him. She knew she didn't have to say anything for him to know she was stoked about going to his practice. He already just kind of knew.

They walked together in a comfortable silence to the rink where practice would be. Cam politely and kindly walked her to the bleachers, before disappearing into the changing rooms. She was sitting alone, but for once in her life, she wasn't afraid. She felt comfortable enough and knew Cam was only a few feet away, so it didn't bother her.

She pulled out her notebook and a pen and started to write. She was so into her song, she hadn't realized someone had taken a seat next to her, until she looked up and jumped, startled.

"Hey."

Her eyes narrowed, but she waved back. She knew he was on the hockey team as he was always walking around in the same jersey that Cam often wore on game days. Though, she couldn't remember his name.

"I don't think we've ever met," Well that took care of that, "But I'm Dallas. I've seen you around with Rookie." She blinked. Who the hell was that? "Oh, sorry, let me clarify. Cam." She nodded understanding. "And though I'm happy he's found someone to make him happy, I should warn you, it's not going to be easy dating him."

She blinked. Were they dating? She wasn't really sure. But she knew she liked him, and could tell he liked her back. They just hadn't put a label on it yet. Plus, she wasn't really into dating anyone at the moment anyway, so what difference did it make to Dallas?

She put her hand up, and signed, "_O-K_."

He looked at her, "What the hell was that?"

Oh right. He didn't know she communicated through sign language. She put one finger up, and opened to a new page.

_It's sign language. It's how I communicate. _

"So you're deaf?"

She shook her head.

"I don't get it."

She rolled her eyes, and wrote something down.

_I don't speak, but I can hear. Though I do have a hearing problem as well, I'm not totally deaf. Understand? _

He nodded, "Yeah, I understand." He stared ahead of him for a moment. "So you're teaching Cam sign language? That explains what he's been doing with his hands recently—" He smirked, and Maya scrunched up her face, confused. "Anyway, that's pretty cool. But what I mean by what I said earlier about it being difficult to date him, is because he's here for hockey, and he's going to be busy with it and on top of school and all that, it's going to be pretty hard."

Oh, so he was just looking out for him. She could understand that. She nodded and wrote something else down.

_We're just friends. _

"Oh okay." He nodded his head. "Well, then. I'll leave you alone, I gotta get down there and practice," He said, as the team started to get on the ice. "I'm the captain after all." He gave her a smile, and she smiled back.

Then he left, and she was back to writing her song. She looked up a few minutes later, and saw Cam waving at her. She smiled and waved back. He smiled back at her, and she giggled.

He then went back to practicing and she watched, her eyes filled with wonder as he skated and played the game professionally.

In her mind, he was amazing. And she knew he'd always stay that way, no matter what happened.

* * *

"Hey, M." She saw a hand waving in her face and looked up to see Cam was dressed in different clothes. She realized then that she'd been so into watching him practice, that she hadn't realized they were done and he was free to do whatever he wanted.

She waved back at him and put her notebook in her bag. She stood up, and faced him. He looked back at her and she burst out laughing. He did too and then shook his head.

"Why are we laughing?"

She shrugged. He put his arm around her again and they walked out of the rink and out into the cold fall air. She shivered slightly causing him to pull her closer to him.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked her and she nodded his head. "Well… uhm…" He sounded a bit nervous, and she wondered what it was about. "I wanted to talk to you about my family."

They stopped walking then, and she decided to take a seat on the curb. She knew barely any cars went down the street they were currently on, so she was safe.

'_O-K._' She signed, motioning for him to continue.

She sat down next to her and looked at her. "I don't really talk to anyone on the team much, because all they do is tease me, and basically treat me like crap because I'm the youngest player—and also the most talented," He whispered, causing her to laugh, "but yeah. I just wanted to talk to someone about it."

She smiled and nodded again.

"Well, like I told you, my family is 12 hours away. And they're not my real family, they're my foster family." She wondered where he was going with this. "Well, my whole life, I've always wondered, you know who my real parents were and why the gave me up. Why couldn't they take care of me, you know all that."

"Well, I never told anyone this, but before I started at Degrassi, I found a letter to my foster mother. It was dated from maybe the year before or something, I don't remember, but anyway, it said that my biological mother wanted to see me. And that she'd been looking for me for the last few months, since she was in jail."

Maya's eyes widened. '_R-E-A-L-L-Y?'_ He nodded, and looked down at his hands. She immediately grabbed one and held it as he continued his story. He immediately felt comfort in that and started to softly rub her hand with his thumb.

"I never asked my foster mom about it and she never mentioned it to me." Maya's eyes narrowed at that. "But I think that it would be my decision to see my mom right?" Maya nodded. "I just wonder why my foster mom would hide it from me, you know? She's a good person and has treated me so well since I started living with her family. I'm just worried that, she's afraid I'll go back to her or something. But I don't think I will. I honestly just want to meet my mom and get to know her, you know? And also express my anger towards her for letting me go."

Maya could understand his fears and concerns. After all, she knew someone who'd been in the _exact _same position he was in.

She pointed at him with his other hand, and moved her hand in a talking motion, then she spelled out, '_K-C_'.

He looked at her confused. "What does KC have to do with this?"

She pulled out her phone, a minute later his phone went off.

_He and my stepmom went through what you're going through now. I think you should talk to him. _

"Really?" She nodded. "I'm kind of… nervous, you know? How do I tell my foster mom I read that letter? I wouldn't even know how to get in contact with her. How did KC get in contact with his mom?"

Maya shrugged.

_I'm not really sure. _

He nodded, "Well thanks for listening to me, I just need to tell someone, well _anyone_, that."

She smiled and scooted closer to him. He looked at her, tilting his head to the side. She rolled her eyes and wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him close to her and hugged him. He hugged her back, loving the feeling of just holding her.

They broke apart a moment later, and looked at each other. Maya suddenly stood up and Cam did the same looking at her curiously. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him with her, until they got to what looked like a park. Letting go of his hand, she ran to the swings and got on it, starting to move back and forth.

And Cam just stood there watching her, smiling. He couldn't help but noticed how carefree she looked, almost like a kid with no problems whatsoever.

She was laughing and having a good time, and he liked seeing that. So he dropped his backpack, and joined her, getting in the swing next to hers, he did the same thing, finding that he too could have fun, even if it was something as childish as swinging.

Maya signaled to him that she was gonna jump and he nodded. She did a moment later, landing on the ground, she fell on her back and giggled. He jumped a moment later, landing on his feet, but then falling to the ground a moment later beside her, he laughed with her.

"That was fun." He said and she nodded in agreement. He looked at her, and noticed something when she turned her head, her hair falling to the side a bit. He never noticed it before, since her hair always covered it.

A hearing aid. She wore a hearing aid. He then wondered if she had it in her other ear as well.

Blinking, he looked at her, seeing that she had a frustrated look on her face now that leaves were all over her hair, she pulled them out, and looked at him.

He smiled at her. She was so unlike any other girl he'd ever met, and whether or not she could speak, he still liked being around her. She was amazing and he never wanted to lose her.

He stood up, and helped her up, her hand going into his. Once they stood up, he was surprised to see she didn't let go, and still held onto it. He walked by the slide and looked at it, before looking at her. He tilted his head in the direction of the slide, but she shook her head, her hand shaking.

"Why don't you want to go down a slide?" He asked, confused. It was a regular kids slide, hardly something to be afraid of right?

She pulled her phone out from her back pocket and typed in a few words, before giving it back to him.

_I had a bad thing happen to me when I was 3 years old when I rode down a slide. Since then I've been afraid of any kind of slide. I've never gone to a water park because of my fear. _

He looked at the slide a moment, and then back at her. He leaned in close, "I'll be there with you, if you… just give into it. I promise, I wont let anything happen to you."

He then leaned back, and she looked at him. She could trust him. In fact, she already knew she did. What the hell was holding her back this time anyway?

Oh right, her fear.

Closing her eyes, she slowly nodded her head. '_O-K_' She signed. She could do this… or at least she hoped she could. He led her up to the top and she looked down. It didn't seem so scary now that she was a lot older and not as tiny anymore.

Cam helped her sit at the top of it, her legs spread in front of her. Then he put his hands on her waist, and leaned in close again. "No matter how scared you are, just push ahead and don't look down." She closed her eyes, bit her lip and nodded her head. She felt tears come to her eyes, but willed them to go away. "Ready?"

She nodded, and he gently pushed her. She did the rest herself and when she opened her eyes again, she was at the bottom.

That she could hardly believe.

Looking in between where she was and where Cam was, she realized she'd done it. She _actually _did it. For the first time in years. She happily jumped up and down and Cam came down after her a moment later. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, she hugged him back, still jumping up and down.

"You did it."

She nodded and looked up at him.

"I'm so proud of you. Do you want to do it again?"

She shook her head.

He laughed, "Didn't think so. We'll work on that though. Pretty soon, you'll be going down the big water slides at the water park." Her eyes widened at that and he laughed, "Don't worry, it's not happening yet. Remember, summer's still very far away."

She smiled and he smiled back at her. Looking back at the slide as they got their things and were starting to leave, she realized then that she conquered a huge fear. If she could do something as simple as that, then maybe she could get through everything else.

As long as Cam was her rock, she could do anything.

So making a quick decision, she grabbed his hand, and started to run towards her house.

She could do this, she _knew_ she could.

* * *

"What are we doing here?" Cam asked her, as he took a seat on her bed. She softly closed the door, leaning against it a moment, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, telling herself she could do this. No problem.

She pointed to herself, before waving her hand in the air, and then going over to her closet. She pulled out a guitar case, and put it on the ground, opening it, she pulled out an acoustic guitar.

She hadn't played it since the incident, the other day in school didn't count as she'd freaked and ran out of the room, causing a very minor head injury. She hoped that didn't happen again.

Cam looked at her, "Do you play the guitar?"

She nodded her head, before taking her phone out. She spent a few moments typing a message, before sending it to him. He looked at her a moment and then picked his phone up.

_I used to be a musician. Like, I played all the time. I was in a band and everything, but then… something happened and I stopped playing. I was afraid to because I thought that if I did, something bad would happen like the last time I did. I uh… I was going to play the other day in school, but freaked out and passed out. _

He looked up at her, "That's why you passed out?" She nodded. "So then why don't you play something now? Or is that why I'm here?" She nodded again, she had both her index fingers pointed outwoards, and then hit her hands together.

'_R-I-G-H-T_.' She spelled a moment later and he nodded.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She could do this, and nothing bad would happen to her. "_No matter how scared you are, just push ahead and don't look down_." Those words were playing over and over in her head as she finally opened her eyes, finding that her hands were already in the places they need to be. Closing her eyes again, she took another deep breath and strummed it, causing a noise to come from it.

She did it again and again and again, finding that it was a familiar tune she was playing. A smile spread across her face, and she got more into it, strumming and playing the guitar, dancing all over the room, while Cam laughed clapping when she was finished.

"See? Was that so hard?" He asked her, and she shook her head, the words he'd told her earlier repeating in her mind. She quickly went back into her closet and pulled out the familiar purple notebook.

She put it next to Cam and then held one palm up, her other hand going back and forth on top of it. '_S-O-N-G_' and then she put both her hands together and opened them. _'B-O-O-K_'.

"This is your song book?" She nodded and sat down next to him, giving it to him. He opened it and noticed a bunch of different scribbles and words.

So she wrote songs. Or used to. That explained a lot about her. He smiled at that, and looked up at her.

"I write songs too." He told her and she looked at him.

'_R-E-A-L-L-Y?' _He nodded.

"I haven't in a while since I'm so busy with hockey, but yeah. I don't sing much… in fact, I really don't feel like I have much talent to be honest."

She grabbed her phone, showing it to him a moment later. _I think if you just believe in yourself, you can do it. _

He didn't say anything, so she typed something else. _No matter how scared you are, just push ahead and don't look down. _

He looked down at the phone, "You remembered what I told you earlier?"

_It's stuck in my brain. In fact, it inspired me. That's how I got through going down the slide and how I got through playing the guitar for you. _

"Really?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

_And now I want to write a song. You inspired me. _

He felt something he never had before. A good thing, as no one had ever told him inspired them before.

She opened to a new page in the notebook, and started to write. After a few minutes, she had the lyrics down, and looked at him.

He looked back at her and then read the words, before reading the note she'd written at the bottom.

_I've never written a song that fast before_.

He then took the pen and helped her, crossing out a few things, and replacing them, and then once he was done reading it over and fixing a few things, he wrote something at the bottom and gave it back to her.

_Me neither. _

She smiled at him and he smiled back at her. She grabbed the guitar and then leaned her head on his shoulder. She started to strum a melody and then started to speed it up, before looking at him.

'_S-I-N-G I-T_' She spelled out but he shook his head. '_Please_?' He shook his head. She sighed, frustrated, before an idea came to her and she pulled her phone out. Typing on it, she gave it to him. _Remember what you told me before? Do that. It's just me you're going to sing in front of, no one else is here. _

He sighed and looked a up at her. He nodded and she clapped excitedly which caused him to laugh. She pointed at the words, and then started to strum the guitar.

"_Yeah, whoa. I'm walking on a thin line, and my hands are tied, got now where to hide. I'm standing at a crossroads, don't know where to go, feeling so exposed._" He started out singing awkwardly as the melody was sort of slow, but once Maya picked it up, he started to get more confident, looking at her as he sang the next part. "_Yeah, I'm caught in between where I'm going and where I've been, but I know, there's no turning back. Yeah. It's like I'm balanced on the edge, it's like I'm hanging by a thread, but I'm still gonna push ahead, so I tell myself, yeah I tell myself, don't look down, down, down, down._"

He continued to sing it, and she stopped playing abruptly.

His phone went off a moment later, and he smiled. _You did it, I'm so proud of you! _

And then the next thing she did, surprised him. She put one hand on his cheek and looked at him, he looked back at her. She then leaned in and quickly kissed him on the cheek, before going back to what she'd been doing earlier, a blush on her cheeks.

He wrapped his arm around her and held her close, his chin on top of her head.

She just absentmindedly strummed the guitar and he read over the words.

Now that song held a lot of meaning for the both of them. It was their special song and no one was going to take that from them.

"I think this is officially the best song ever." Cam commented and she nodded.

He didn't need a message or anything for him to know she agreed with him.

He could just see it.

* * *

The next day, Cam and Maya walked into their class together. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she was walking with him, as he told her some funny story about his sister back home.

He took his hand off her, when she started to walk towards her seat. He sat down at his, and she did at hers, next to Tori.

"So?" Tori nudged her.

Maya just looked at her, confused.

"Are you and Cam dating or not?"

Maya wasn't really sure how to answer that one, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"It sure looks like you two are dating." Tristan said a moment later, taking the seat next to them having over heard their conversation. She looked behind her, and noticed he was talking to some other guy in the class. He turned his head, seeing her and smiled. She smiled back and turned back to her friends.

"Why so happy?" Zig asked taking a seat beside Tristan.

"She won't admit she and Cam are dating." Tori responded, causing Maya to smack her and her to laugh.

"Oh really?" Oh great, now Zig was interested in her love life too.

She glared at him, '_We're just really close right now. We wrote a song together last night.' _

Zig translated and Tori gasped, "No fucking way! You're a musician?"

She nodded. She signed and Zig translated, "She said she stopped a while ago, but something happened yesterday that made her do it again." They were all quiet for a second, before he remembered something. "You should play it in the talent competition coming up. I'm sure it'd be way awesome."

"Yeah!" Tori exclaimed, but then she looked confused. "Wait, how can you play an instrument if you can't hear well?"

Maya sighed, and pulled her hair back. There they could all clearly see her hearing aids.

"She said they help her hear, so that's how she can communicate back to us with sign language or text or whatever. She can also hear music pretty well."

"But why don't you talk?" Tristan asked her. Maya looked down playing with her hands, before finally looking up at them.

She trusted them too, she could sort of tell them right?

Yes.

'_Something happened to me almost a year ago. That's why I have to sign and why I don't talk. I just decided not to._'

Zig translated and then everyone was quiet.

"Wow, I'm sorry." Tori answered, "When you're ready to tell us, we'll be more than ready to listen."

Maya nodded.

"I still think you should play the song in the talent show." Zig said a moment later. "I could help you, in fact, we all could. Cam included."

Maya looked like she was about to say no, since she couldn't sing it anyway, but Tori looked at her.

"You can do it." She said. "I know you can."

And that's when she made the decision to play her music again. It'd been a long time, but it deserved to be heard and seen by other people. Looking back at Cam, she decided that they were going to do it together. He gave her the strength she needed and she was sure as hell going to face this fear.

She could do it.

She just hoped she believed it enough to actually make it seem true.

It was time to stand out.

* * *

**Review and tell me how much this sucked. Though, I personally like it a lot. Don't judge me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm warning you, Maya has a major panic/anxiety attack (but mostly panic) in this chapter. I warned you. Oh and Cam finds out about her past too, but you guys unfortunately don't. Sorry. **

**There's _huge _surprise in this chapter. See if you can figure out what it is and tell me in your review! That would be awesome. **

**Luke's still an asshole. Or for lack of a better term, a _dick_. But it's not the end of him, just yet. You'll see more of him later on, count on that.**

**One question though, why have _none _of you silly punks asked where Katie was in this story? Or did you guys just assume she's the sister Maya had problems with in the past? Whatever your reason is, I'd love to hear them. **

**Anyway, enjoy. Read. Laugh. Cry. Hug a squirrel. Review. Whatever makes you guys happy.**

**I own nothing. **

* * *

Cam looked up from his book to see Maya jump in front of him and then lean down so that she was adorably staring over the edge of the desk at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, laughing as she stood up and put her hands on his desk, looking at him.

She motioned for him to give her a piece of paper. He ripped out a piece and handed it to her. She took his pen (to which his mouth dropped open and she just smirked at in return), and wrote something down before giving it to him.

_I have news for you and I'm super excited about it. _

"I see. And what news may that be?"

_Well, I sort of maybe told Zig, Tristan, and Tori about the song we wrote yesterday. They think we should perform it in the talent show coming up. _

"The talent show? What talent show?" Cam was understandably confused.

She shrugged, looking over her shoulder at Zig and then back at him. He nodded.

"You're saying go ask Zig."

'_Right_.' She signed and then she grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her. He stood in front of her a bit close, and she looked up at him an adorable smile on her face. He sighed dramatically and then she pulled him with her to Zig, Tori, and Tristan.

"You're lucky you're you, you know. I wouldn't be getting up and taking a break from my school work for just anyone you know."

She giggled, pointed at him and then put her thumb to her chest, leaving her hand still for a moment she then brought it up again and spelled, _'F-I-N-E_.'

"I'm fine?" She nodded and then realized what it meant and shook her head. He laughed, "It's okay if you think so, Maya. No one's judging you."

She rolled her eyes and playfully smacked him. They then stopped their what Tori later called "flirt session" and joined the others. She sat down and then waved her hand in Zig's face to get his attention.

'_Tell Cam what you told me_ _about the talent show_.' She signed and he nodded, looking at Cam a moment later.

"So, there's a talent show coming up." He said and Cam nodded.

"I heard something about that. I also heard you guys think we should perform the song Maya and I wrote?"

Tori nodded, "Yeah. I mean, we haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure it's amazing. By her excitement about it earlier, I assumed as much."

"Well, it is pretty good." Cam mused, and then Maya tugged on his shirt. He looked down at her.

She turned to Zig to sign something and then he translated, "She asked if that meant you could do it. We'll even help you out," He said, gesturing toward Tristan, Tori and himself. "Whatever you need. I play the guitar and drums. Tristan can be back-up vocals and Tori could both play the piano and be back-up as well."

"Or lead singer." Cam said and Maya looked at him a smile growing on her face.

"Does that mean you guys will do it?"

He and Maya had a silent conversation going in between them for a moment, her giving him a look that said, _go for it_, and he mostly unsure until he looked at her eyes and noticed how child-like and innocent they looked before he realized what she was doing. Rolling his eyes at her silliness, he nodded his head. "Yeah, that means we'll do it."

Tori squealed, Tristan and Zig high-fived, and Maya jumped up and wrapped her arms around him hugging him close. He hugged her back and then after they realized how long they were hugging, they pulled apart and smiled at each other.

"This better be worth it, Maya. Or I'll come get ya." He teased and her eyes widened. "I'm joking, relax." He said and she nodded sitting down.

She pulled out her notebook and wrote something down.

_It's our moment to stand out. I can't wait. _

"Yeah." Cam nodded, leaning down to read what she wrote and looked at her, a small smile on his face, "I guess it is."

She smiled back and then leaned her head on his shoulder.

She really couldn't wait.

* * *

She was at her locker, when she saw someone waving their hand in her face. She looked up to see it was just KC and rolled her eyes, going back to what she was doing before. He waved his hand in her face again and she gave up, looking at him.

'_What_.'

'_Just wanted to see what you were doing after school today. Mom said something about your dad finally coming back from his business trip tonight. Do you want to go with us to get him at the airport? And before that, you and I can go get something to eat or hang out or whatever.' _

Maya's face visibly scrunched up in anger and sadness when he mentioned her father. But instead of getting upset about it, she just shook her head.

'_I don't want to go with you to pick up my father at the airport, but I will hang out with you after school. I actually need to talk to you about something anyway._'

KC knew better than to push the subject of her father, so he just nodded. '_Fair enough. Is it about the boy you've been hanging out with a lot recently? Uh… Cam?_'

Maya nodded. '_Good guess_.' She shut her locker then and the bell rang. Still upset and not wanting KC to see it, she just started to walk down the hall, giving him a wave goodbye. He nodded and did the same, going the opposite direction.

Tears came to her eyes, and she bit her lip to keep from crying. She didn't want to in front of everyone. In fact, she'd rather cry later, in the privacy of her own bedroom. After a while though, the tears started to blind her vision and she stumbled into someone.

"What the hell?" She heard and looked up to see it was Luke.

Shit.

He turned toward her, causing her to take a step back. Without thinking it through, she signed '_sorry'_ and kept backing up, her back hitting the wall behind her.

"Wait, weren't you the girl who made me fall a few weeks or days ago or whatever?"

She nodded.

"What you don't talk?"

She didn't answer that.

"Talk to me!" He shouted at her, causing her to become scared. "Why can't you answer me? Are you deaf? Or just stupid?"

Tears streamed down her face once he'd said that, her dam breaking from earlier. She closed her eyes and hoped it would all end soon.

This wasn't who she was. Before she'd tell the person to fuck off, now that she couldn't, she just felt more vulnerable than ever.

He laughed, "Guess you're just an idiot then."

"Hey, Luke. Why don't you go pick on someone who gives a shit about what you think?" She heard a moment later, but didn't open her eyes to see who it was.

"It looks like she cares. Besides, what's it to you?"

"She doesn't deserve to be treated that way, no step away before I make you." The person threatened, and it was silent for a few minutes before Luke finally spoke.

"Whatever, you're both freaks anyways." After that, she heard nothing but silence and had assumed he and whoever it was that had rescued her had walked away. Literally a second later though, the person asked her if she was okay.

And that was when she opened her eyes.

In front of her was a boy with a beanie on his head. He had blue eyes and brown hair that was shaggy and sort of in his eyes. She noticed the LBGT pin on his backpack and smiled despite feeling overwhelmed with what had just happened.

She slowly nodded her head. Her hair had fallen a bit forward, so she quickly fixed it.

"I'm Adam." The boy said, and then studied her for a moment, before blinking his eyes and seemingly coming back to reality again. "Here, let me help you off the wall." He said and she nodded, gratefully taking his hand and allowing him to pull her off the wall, so she was steady again. They walked a few feet, before she fell and landed against the lockers, her hair falling forward again. "Whoa, are you alright? Do you want me to take you to the nurse?"

She shook her head.

"Can I tell you something then?" She nodded, but barely. "I wouldn't listen to what Luke says. He's nothing but an asshole-" Where had she heard that before? "-and I'm pretty sure he just wants attention in whatever fucked up way he wants it. Don't let him bother you."

He nodded again and Adam studied her for a moment. "I don't mean to be rude, but…" His eyes widened in realization, but soon after, narrowed. "You can't talk back can you?" She shook her head, sniffling, she wiped her nose. "You're deaf?" She shook her head. "You just don't speak?" She nodded. "Oh okay, well, there's no problem with that. But I see you have hearing aids, do they help you hear better?" She nodded, fixing her hair so that they were covered again. She looked down and played with her fingers. "Well obviously or we wouldn't be having this conversation." That made her laugh and it was silent in between them before Adam spoke again. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, okay? It's not your fault, I'm sure. People can be real assholes about it, but I wouldn't let it get to you, okay?"

Yeah, it _wasn't _her fault she was hard of hearing. It _wasn't _her fault her sister was dead. Or her mother. It _wasn't _her fault, she couldn't speak. Yeah all _not _her fault.

Lie, lie, lie, lie, _lie_.

She lifted her head up a moment later, and then mouthed, 'thank you'. He seemed to understand her and nodded, a smile on his face.

"No problem." He helped her steady herself again, but she still felt dizzy and lightheaded so she just leaned against the lockers for a minute, holding her head in her hands. "You sure you don't want me to take you to the nurse?" She nodded again.

"Hey, Adam. What's up? Why are you standing in front of my locker?"

"And since his locker is only one away from me, why in front of mine as well?"

Maya looked up to see two other people standing with Adam. A really pretty girl with curly hair, holding hands with a boy who's hair was shaggy like Adam's but much darker. He had a guitar pick necklace around his neck, and a skull ring around his thumb. She tilted her head in confusion at the couple in front of her as they didn't seem like a very likely couple to her.

"What? Oh, right. Uh, well, I was helping this girl." He said, and Maya realized he didn't know her name. "She was getting picked on by Luke."

The girl with the curly hair turned towards her, she seemed to notice how in a state of panic she was in, because he had her back pressed against the lockers, hair hands tangled in her hair, her eyes pink and puffy. Maya immediately wished she didn't see her like that, it was too embarrassing as her panic attacks were becoming more and more frequent now. Though she was able to not have them in school, just at home when she was alone with KC or her stepmother.

The girl leaned down in front of her, "Are you okay?" She asked her, her voice kind and sweet and immediately all Maya wanted to do was for the girl to hug her and allow her to cry until she couldn't anymore.

She looked up at Adam, silently communicating with him to tell her why she couldn't answer back.

"She doesn't speak." Adam said a moment later. "She hasn't exactly communicated much with me at all except for some nodding and head shaking."

"She must be really freaked out." The girl said, "I wish I knew why though."

"Yeah, I wish I did too." Adam answered.

"Hey." Maya stopped looking in between them and looked at the dark haired boy. Though his voice was gentle, it was still sort of stern as he had wanted her attention. "Do you think you can stand up?"

Maya's eyes widened and she shook her head. She tried to press herself against the lockers more (as if that was possible) and started to visibly shake. For whatever reason, what had happened earlier had caused a sort of trigger to a memory of what happened to her. She couldn't and _wouldn't _allow herself to go through it again.

Tears started to stream to down her cheeks and her shaking became more violent.

"Shit, Adam. She's having a panic attack." She heard someone say, but didn't see who it was. Since the voice was deep, she assumed it was the dark-haired boy's.

"Look at me, okay?" She heard the curly haired girl's voice, but shook her head. "It's okay." She spoke softly, gently taking her hand in hers. "I promise you, we're not here to hurt you. Okay? We're here to help you."

She briefly wondered if a crowd had formed around them then, but didn't think much of it.

All she wanted right then was Cam. He was her rock, he would protect her from whatever or whomever it was who was trying to hurt her.

"Maya! Maya!" She faintly heard and recognized it as KC's voice, though it sounded kind of muffled. "What happened to you, are you okay?"

"We were just trying to help her." The curly haired girl said. "She seems to be having a panic attack."

"Did anything happen?" KC asked.

"Yeah, Luke was bothering her, so I stepped in and got him to stop." Adam answered.

"Maya? Maya. It's me, it's KC. Come on, look at me, okay? I promise, it's just me."

She felt herself shake her head though it didn't seem like her head was really attached to her body, she felt so numb. She just wanted Cam. He would help her, she _knew _it.

She let out a whimper, and then felt herself calm down a teeny bit. She still didn't open her eyes.

"Maya, please, calm down. Okay? It's me. Your brother, KC." She shook her head and then opened her mouth.

"C-Cam_." _She felt herself whisper.

"I'm here, Maya. I'm here." She heard, and then felt him wrap his arms around her. Immediately, she felt protected and then fell against him, hugging him and crying so hard, she wasn't sure if she was going to stop anytime soon. Her body stopped shaking and she had calmed down. "We're going to take you to the nurse's office okay? Will you let me pick you up?" She nodded, and then opened her eyes. There she saw Cam's familiar face, and KC's right next to her. Adam and his two friends were still there and so were a huge crowd.

She felt herself being lifted and then carried somewhere, before she was placed gently on a bed, where she closed her eyes again and then everything went black.

* * *

She opened her eyes and looked up at the familiar white ceiling. Groggily, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, barely able to open them. Though once she did, she saw Cam with his head on his arm, his eyes closed, and KC sitting on a chair that was placed there, next to him. He looked at her.

"Are you okay?" He whispered and she made a so-so sign. "I hope you know I'm going to deal with the jerk who did this to you later."

She shook her head, silently begging him not to. It would just make things worse.

"You wanna know something?" KC asked and she just looked at him. "You spoke for the first time in almost a year, Maya, you _said_ something. Isn't that crazy?" She tilted her head, confused as she didn't remember that at all. His eyes went to Cam who was still fast asleep. "You said his name. And Maya, that's pretty huge. I think you trust him enough, and by that logic, I think I should too. He's pretty special to you, I can see that. Think it's time you tell him what happened?"

Her eyes filled with tears, and he rushed over to her, hugging her lightly he calmed her down. "You care about him and he cares about you too… a lot. I think it's time, but it's up to you."

She nodded against his chest, and wiped away her tears.

'_I will_.'

KC leaned over and kissed her on top of her head. "Good." He whispered, "I'll give you guys some time alone," And with that, he left the room, leaving the two of them together.

The sound of the door closing must've woken Cam up, because he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked at her and gave her a small smile, "There you are, I missed that." His words caused her to smile, she couldn't help it. "Are you feeling better?"

She made a so-so motion again, but then nodded, indicating that she felt a bit better than she had a moment before. Though he didn't know it, she was nervous about what she was going to tell him.

"You had a really intense panic attack." He said, "It was scary." That she knew. "But uh, your brother had texted me from your phone while I was at practice and told me to come over to where you were immediately, that's how I knew what was going on. Also the big crowd around the lockers was a huge indication."

She laughed, and then looked at him seriously for a moment. She knew she could do it. Tell Cam what happened to her and made her the way she was.

She signed phone and he nodded, handing her bag to her, she dug through it until she found it. She typed on it for a moment and then showed it to him.

_I need to tell you something. And I'm kind of scared and not totally ready to, but I trust you and I want to tell you_.

"Sounds serious." Cam noted, "What's it about?"

She took the phone again and then handed it back.

_It's about what happened to me. _

He didn't say anything, just nodded and she took a deep breath. To her surprise, he took her hand in his, and held it. Right then she knew she had the strength to do what she was about to.

So, with one hand still holding his, she took her phone and typed it all out. Told him everything and didn't leave a single detail out. After she was done, she handed it to him and watched as he read it over, his eyes even teared up, to her surprise. He read it over and over, and took what seemed like forever, until he finally handed he phone back to her.

"I understand now, it all makes sense." He said quietly, knowing that if he whispered, she might not have been able to hear him. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that Maya."

She made her hand into a 'y' formation and then moved it in between the both of them, nodding her head. Then spelled out what she had signed, '_S-A-M-E'. _

And with that, he immediately wrapped her in his arms and hugged her, she hugged him back, and cried with him as they sat there together. All of there emotions went into that hug, and though she was feeling so drained from all of it, she couldn't help but feel a closeness with Cam she had never felt with anyone else before.

They broke apart, and Cam held her hand, tightly again, his fingers intertwined with hers, almost like he didn't want to let go, like he _refused to_.

She could more than live with that.

And there, they sat in complete silence. Not knowing what to say, and not wanting to leave the room or ruin the moment.

They didn't need any communication at all to know what the other felt, it was all just there. Out in the open, plain and obvious.

* * *

She went home later that day, expecting the worst, especially since she didn't go to the airport to pick up her father. But she knew he didn't really care about that anyways. She went up to her room, and threw her bag on the ground, tiredly laying on her bed, she closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep from crying.

She had told Cam the truth. About _everything_. He now knew everything that had happened to her and now it wasn't much a secret as long as everyone else didn't find out. She knew he wouldn't tell anyone though. He wasn't like that, and that was something she liked most about him. He could keep a secret.

After thinking it over more and more in her head, she decided that sleeping was what would be best. Though she wasn't sure how to go about it since her whole body was a little bit achy from her panic attack earlier. Her chest and head hurt her like crazy.

After she took out her hearing aids and closed her eyes, just about to drift off to sleep, she felt someone shake her, and looked up through blurry vision to see KC standing above her. Grabbing her glasses, she put them on to find that Jenna was with him as well.

She saw her speak, but signed that she wasn't able to hear her at all. Jenna nodded and started to sign to her.

'_Hey are you feeling better?' _

Maya nodded, '_my body is still sore though. And I have a terrible headache.' _

'_I bet you do. I was so worried for you. My friends told me all about what happened and I just want you to know that I'm here for you anytime you want to talk. Okay?_'

Maya nodded and then signed '_thank you_'. She smiled at her and she smiled back. She honestly didn't remember much of what happened that afternoon, it was all blurry to her.

Soon, Jenna's head was moved towards the door and Maya's head did the same. Her stepmother, Lisa stood there. She said something to KC and KC turned to Maya.

'_There's someone here to see you. My mom said it was a detective?' _

Why the hell would there be a detective at her house. Last time she spoke to one was... oh shit. She quickly stood up and ran out of the door, forgetting about her hearing aids. She rushed downstairs, and stopped to see the same detective that had spoken to her just a year before, standing in her living room. But someone else was with her as well.

The detective spoke to her, but Maya didn't answer. The detective tried again, but Maya still didn't say anything. She then watched as the detective spoke to someone behind her and she turned to see that KC and Jenna were there. KC said something to the detective and she nodded.

KC tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to face him.

'_She said she has something to tell you.' _

She motioned for him to continue.

'_You know the case about your sister? How it went cold?' _Oh my god. No. No fucking way. '_Well, they just reopened it. Olivia and her partner Kevin are here to speak with you about what happened, and if you remember anything._' _  
_

She shook her head. She _really _didn't remember much about what had happened that night. She chose not to, but flashbacks from what happened before and some (very little) of what happened during still haunted her even to that day. She didn't want to talk about it. Telling Cam earlier was hard enough.

Her eyes filled with tears and Jenna immediately went over to her, rubbing her shoulders, she hugged her and tried to get her to calm down. Maya easily felt comfort in that and did.

She read KC's lips and could see that he had told the detective's that she'd had a rough day already and just needed some rest. He also told them that she wasn't going to speak about it.

The detective then said something else, and KC signed it back to her.

'_If you speak about what happened, it could really help find the person who did this. Did this to not only your sister, but to you too.'_ He could tell she didn't want to say anything though so he only repeated the words the detective was saying back to her. He knew not to push it.

She just hid herself in Jenna's chest, and refused to look at the detectives. She didn't know what happened next, because the next thing she knew was her body was being pressed against Jenna's and she looked up to see KC had sandwiched her in the hug.

After a while, she turned around and he gently touched his hand to her cheek or a moment before pulling it away and speaking to her, _'It's okay if you don't want to talk, you don't have to. I know how hard it is for you.' _

She was grateful for that. She looked up at him, '_I told Cam today. That was enough for me for one day._'

He nodded, _'I understand. Right now though, I think that you should maybe get some rest, okay?_'

She nodded and both KC and Jenna led her upstairs to her room where she just lay down on her bed and closed her eyes. She soon fell asleep the memories of that night flooding through her mind and creating a movie like appearance in her mind.

And when she woke up a few hours later, she wasn't surprised to find tears streaming down her cheeks, her hands shaking, and the fact that she remembered every single little detail of that night.

* * *

**See how dependent Maya is on Cam already? **

**But lucky for you guys, because the next chapter is going to explain _everything_ that happened to Maya. Why she is the way she is, what she told Cam and why Luke triggered some memories for her and caused her to remember everything later that day. The next chapter is gonna the big one, well one of them anyway. So be ready for it. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm kind of insecure about this. But I worked really hard on this, so here you go. If something doesn't make sense, don't be afraid to tell me. I'll clear it all up for you. **

**This chapter is basically e****verything that happened to Maya and most (keyword here being _most_) of her past is revealed in this chapter. Still a bit more to go. It's sort of based on a true/personal experience of mine... yeah. Also, there's a hint to a mood disorder she has not only in the flashback but in other chapters as well, if you caught on. Awesome. If not. Dang it!**

**Just kidding. _  
_**

**Maya is also very, _very _out of character in this chapter. Just so you know. Her personality is way different than it is now... wait. Actually she is the entire story lol. It's very AU, tbh. **

**Oh and you'll finally get to see who that sister is of Maya's. Dun dun... dun. Though I thought it was kind of obvious. **

**I normally don't do this, but I added a bit of what it would've been after she had remembered it. I originally wanted it to be a separate chapter, but I felt you guys waited long enough. Therefore, this chapter is super long. You're welcome. **

**Also, thanks so, so, _so _much for the reviews! Oh my god. You guys don't understand how amazing it feels to know that you like this story so much. I love each and every one of you and your reviews. Seriously, they keep me going. You keep me going.**

**You guys seriously rock. **

**Oh and question. I'm running out of space on the document upload thing. Do I have to delete it to make room? And if I do, does it delete a chapter? Or a story? Or anything? Let me know, plz. **

**Did you guys see the last two episodes? I mean. Cam and Maya are so cute! And Clare and Eli. I love them. Always have, alway will. But seriously, Cam and Maya? Their story line was really good and the last part with them made me cry. Especially Maya's song. I'm not going to lie here. And Adam? I was so happy he _finally _got the girl and that he didn't get shit on like he normally does. He damn well deserved something good to happen to him, that's for sure. Becky coming around made me like her a little more. **

**Alright, this is long enough. Read on you awesome punks. Hope you like it. It's emotional, just to say. It's also actually kind of dark... if you catch my drift. So yeah. There's your other... warning. Hah.**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

_September 14, 2011_

The music was loud as soon as they walked up to the club. Her head was already pounding and she just wanted to go home even though they'd just gotten there.

"Huh, this place looks better than I thought. Too bad, my boyfriend wasn't able to make it tonight."

She turned around and saw her sister—well _half-_sister standing behind her, her hand on her side, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes, and turned to face their friend who was motioning for her to go with him through the entrance. She looked down a bit unsure as the outfit she wore was really well, _revealing_, especially for a thirteen year old girl.

"You look fine," another friend, Anna told her. "Seriously in that outfit you easily past for eighteen, now come on. Or you'll be late."

Maya shook her head. She had a really bad feeling about this.

"Indecisive much? Come on, sis." Her sister said as she walked past her, turning towards her to smile at her. "It'll be fun."

Well, that certainly helped the decision making process a lot more than she thought it would. The black strapless dress and blood red five inch heels she wore made her feel a bit suffocated-and not to mention exposed as well. She stepped forward, following her sister into the club. She kept walking until she was backstage and stopped, taking a seat on one of the amps, she noticed a member of the band, Alex smiling at her. Anna and her sister, however, were nowhere to be found.

She managed a smile back and waved at him, before running her fingers through her curly blonde hair. She then looked at her nails, which were painted blood red as well, and smirked, an idea coming to her.

She walked up to Alex, and for a moment watched while he played the guitar, before taking a seat on his lap, crossing her legs, she lowered her head so that she was completely face to face with him. He stopped playing and looked at her as she ran her finger a long his jaw.

Though she was so_, so _nervous, she decided not let it get the best of her, and continued what she was doing, becoming more and more confident as she did.

Alex seemed to be lost in her trance, because he didn't do or say anything as her hand started to travel lower. But by then he had grabbed her hands and stopped her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She immediately pulled her hands away from his grasp and stood up. "I was trying to make you feel...I don't know, good!" She looked angry, her blue eyes showing that emotion well.

"Yeah only one problem. You're a kid, I'm eighteen. It's way illegal."

Couldn't he fucking see that she liked him? She had for a while now. Why was he being such a douche about it? She thought that he wanted her, but apparently she was wrong about that. Oh well, fine. She'd find someone else then.

"Whatever, you're just one of a few hundred guys here. I can have anyone I want."

The way she was speaking (which was so out of character for her, it wasn't funny) made Alex a bit wary of her mental health. Though she hadn't shown much signs of a disorder or anything lately, he still could see there was something not right about her.

"Maya, you're a thirteen year old. In _middle school_, what makes you think you can just go fuck any guy you want?"

"Simple." She spoke confidently. "They don't know how old I am. According to Anna, I look eighteen."

He looked at her, _really _looked at her and noticed that she actually did. Her blonde hair was curled and was just the right length-not too long and definitely not too short as it was a little past her shoulders. Her tan skin made her black eyeliner and thick mascara pop more, the red lipstick on her lips making her look way, way older than she really was. The heels she had on definitely helped that look as they made her legs go on for miles, and her dress-well, that was what _really _pulled her look together. It was strapless and black, it only went about midthigh, and made her small chest look even bigger for some strange reason, but not too big.

He was staring at a thirteen year old girl going on twenty fucking two. And the worst part was he couldn't tear his eyes away from her even if his life depended on it. Holy shit.

"Yeah, well, you do." He finally answered, clearing his throat. "But that doesn't mean you can act like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maya demanded. "I can do whatever I want! I'm not a child."

Well, that was for _damn _sure.

"Why are you being so difficult? I'm just looking out for you, okay? Don't do anything too crazy or too dangerous. I guarantee you'll regret it."

"Whatever, Alex. I'm still gonna do what I want, so lay off. Okay? If you don't want me, then you can bet, I'll find someone else who will." And with that, she walked off, leaving him alone.

* * *

She soon found Anna on the dance floor, grinding against some guy he looked to be way, way older than her. Though, it wouldn't be too surprising considering Anna got with anyone who was willing to be with her.

She walked through the dancers, ignoring the dirty looks, and eventually caught up to her, only to find her making out furiously with the mystery person. She decided then that she really didn't need to be around her and walked off. She was soon stopped by someone and looked up to see someone she really didn't feel like speaking to as he sort of creeped her out.

"Hey." He said, leaning in closer so she could hear him. "Do you want to dance?"

She shook her head, "No. Not really."

"Come on, just dance with me." He tried to insist, but she still shook her head. "Why not?"

"I really don't want to." She answered, trying to come up with an excuse as to why not. Just then, she came up with the perfect one, "I have to go up on stage soon and perform. Uh... maybe afterwards?" Why, _why_ did she say that? Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He smiled at her, and immediately Maya felt a little worried. "Yeah, sure. I'll hold you to that."

She nodded. "Yeah, sure whatever." And then with that, she walked off again, backstage where she picked up the guitar that one of the other band mates had brought for her and started to strum it, playing the familiar chords of one of the songs they were going to be performing that night.

"You ready for this?" She looked up to see her sister standing above her, her arms crossed over her chest. Maya nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Maya took a deep breath and then noticed everyone getting up and heading onstage, her sister included. She was about to follow them, but felt someone hold her back.

"You promised me you'd dance with me, remember?" It was the creepy guy again. What the hell was he doing backstage? That only creeped her out more. Suddenly, she felt like the thirteen year old girl she was.

And all she wondered was _what the fuck _she was doing. Why had she lied to KC about where she was going, why had she lied about everything just so she could go out and what? Feel like an adult for one night? No. No. She wasn't going to do this. Not anymore.

"I told you after I performed, genius." She responded, and started to walk away, but the guy held her back, forcefully pushing her against the wall.

"I know you're lying." He stared at her hard, and she felt her throat go dry. She immediately wished she was back at home, safe in her bed and not where she was at that moment.

"I'm not lying. I do have to go onstage and perform. See? I have a guitar with me and everything."

"Shut up bitch!" He yelled at her, causing her to jump a bit. She looked around wondering where everyone else was and why they hadn't noticed she was missing. Where the hell did her sister go?

"I'm not a-" She was cut off when his lips were on hers, kissing her sloppily and roughly. She didn't like that at all, and bit on his bottom lip, pushing him away at the same time, and had succeeded, but he went right back to kissing her again. And there was nothing she could do, but let it happen. Finally, he broke the kiss and looked at her. Her lipstick was smeared and all over the place, but otherwise, she was fine as he hadn't done much more than kiss her.

"You're a good kisser." She wondered how he could've judged that when she didn't really do anything back, but instead of asking, she just nodded her head. _Sure, whatever_. She thought. "I bet you're good in bed too." She then felt him reach behind her and smack her ass. She jumped and glared at him.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded and smacked him, hard, across the face. "Stay the fuck away from me you creep."

"No girl turns me down." He said, glaring at her hard, so hard it was almost menacing and scary.

But she didn't back down. "Guess I'm the first then. Get out of my way, I have to go onstage." She tried to walk past him, but he pushed her roughly against the wall again.

"You better watch yourself, slut. Watch what you say or you're going to get _exactly _what you deserve."

"You're a pig." Maya snapped, spitting in his face as she did. "I'm not interested. Take a hint."

"Oh you're not interested? Then what happens if I do this then?" And with that, he picked her up, pushing her once again against the wall, and pressed his lips against hers. She groaned against his lips, _now _tasting the alcohol and tried to push him away, but he wouldn't let up. She kept trying and trying, managing to break her lips free, when he just started to kiss her neck.

"Get off me!" She was screaming now. "Get the fuck off of me!" She then used all her strength and pushed him off her completely, but not before his hand traveled lower, and touched her most sensitive spot.

"What the fuck?"

"Look, I don't know who you are, or what you want from me, but right now. I need you to leave. Okay? Leave. Now!"

The guy just smirked at her, "Come on, you know you want this."

"No. I want you to get the fuck out of my face!" She yelled at him, pushing against him again once he regained his spot, kissing her neck and putting his hand underneath her dress again he moved it so that it was a bit higher, and then started to unbutton his own pants.

She knew what was going to happen next.

"No, no. Stop! Stop it!" She started screaming again, but it didn't faze him at all. This was going to happen, she was about to be raped by some guy she didn't even know. Closing her eyes, she realized she couldn't fight it off anymore and just let him do what he wanted with her, wondering the entire time where her sister and band mates were. Though she could hear them rehearsing as the music was really loud. There was no way anyone would be able to hear her.

After he was done (which was literally maybe less than five minutes later) he just kissed her, roughly. Which was when her anger got the best of her and she bit his lip, so hard, she was sure she drew blood.

"Aw, what the hell?" He demanded, but she just glared at him, refusing to cry. He wasn't going to get the best of her. "You're going to pay for that later, bitch."

"Haven't I suffered enough?" She demanded, but he shook his head.

"Not even close, Princess." And that alone made her blood go cold. He just smirked at her and walked off, before she decided it was best she make herself look presentable. She went into the private room and quickly fixed her hair and make-up best she could, before stepping outside again. One of the band members, Christian noticed she was still backstage.

"What the hell, Maya? Why aren't you onstage? Get your ass up there!"

Really? _Fucking really_? _Now_ they decided to notice she was gone? Well, fuck them. They wanted a show, they were sure _as _hell going to get one.

She stormed onstage and instead of taking her usual spot, she took Christian's. Front and center, in front of everyone. She knew he'd be pissed off, but she didn't care. She wrote all the songs, she came up with the melodies, the least Christian could fucking do (especially after what just happened) is allow her to be onstage where she wanted to be.

"What's up everyone?" She said into the microphone, not giving a shit if everyone else was ready or not. "Are you ready for an awesome night?" The cheers that came from the crowded club made her smirk, and she started to play the song. No one was ready yet, so it was just her playing, until she abruptly stopped and looked behind her. "What the fuck guys? Get it together! You wanted me out here, you got your wish."

"We're not ready yet, idiot." Pam snapped at her, from where she stood with her bass guitar. "Give us a few more minutes."

"No. We're playing now." Maya responded, "Either that, or we don't at all. I don't give a shit. It's your choice." And with everyone glaring at her, she stood face front again. "Sorry about that everyone, looks like my band isn't cooperating."

"Get the hell out of my spot." Christian stormed up to her, and pushed her. Her eyes widened, flashing back to what had happened just a few moments before. Narrowing her eyes towards him, she wondered what she'd seen in him a few months before, when they had dated for a short while. He was such a douche.

"Sorry, but no. It's my spot now."

"Why do you say that? You had no problem with it yesterday."

"Well, I do now." She responded, "I write the songs, the least you can do is give me this one moment to shine."

"Come on dude, just let her have it. She's got a point." Wow, Alex sure was quick to jump to her defense.

Christian and Maya had a stare-down for a few more minutes before he just shrugged. "Fine, whatever, Princess." He said, and purposely hit her shoulder as he walked passed her. Her whole body froze at that name, and she felt her hands start to shake.

"Fuck you, Christian." She said mostly to herself.

"Alright, sis. We're ready." She heard her sister say and rolled her eyes.

_Fuck you too_. She thought and then addressed the crowd again.

"Okay, this time, I'm sure we're ready." She sort of joked and then started to play the keys she needed to. The music taking over her mind so much that she wasn't even thinking of what had just happened just moments before. She then went to the mic again and started to sing.

During the song, she saw the guy who had been harassing her, and immediately grew angrier as she played the song, singing it completely different then when they had rehearsed it. She knew she was going to get shit for it later, but she didn't care.

After the show was over, she immediately went backstage, ignoring everyone who was trying to talk to her. But as she put her guitar in the case, she turned around, only to see Christian looking at her pissed off. Alex was behind him, sitting on an amp and a few others were just hanging around.

"What?" She snapped. "Stop staring at me, you're making me feel uncomfortable." That wasn't too much of a lie.

"What the fuck was that back there? You did the songs all wrong and did it your way!"

"Oh is Christian pissed off because things didn't go his way? Ooh, poor baby." Maya pretended to pout, then she glared at him, narrowing her eyes, she shook her head, "grow up." She snapped, before walking away. She stepped outside and leaned against the wall. She heard the door open a few minutes later, tensing up, she watched as her sister walked towards her, causing her to visibly relax.

"What is going on Maya?"

"Nothing's going on." She snapped. "I'm just… not in a good mood anymore okay?" She felt for the bag she had grabbed before leaving the room, and pulled out a lighter.

"Why do you have a lighter?"

"Why do you care?" Maya shot back. "You wanted me here, you got me into all this crazy shit. What's the difference if I smoke or just play with a damn lighter?"

"Do you smoke?" Her sister shot back, and immediately she shook her head.

"No. I don't." And with that, she put the lighter back. "But what's the point, why are you here?"

"Because I came out here to check on you. Christian and everyone else are pretty pissed off by what you did. Care to explain that?"

Maya glared her, squeezing her mouth shut so she didn't start yelling at her, but it was getting harder and harder not to. She was _almost _at the breaking point, and knew it was best if she just walked away.

"I'm going home." Maya said, beginning to walk off, but her sister quickly reacted and grabbed her arm, causing Maya to scream at her and push her away so violently it startled the older girl. Instead of apologizing, Maya just quickly ran off to the front of the club, and leaned against the wall there, where she felt she was safe. At least the bouncer and other people around would make it seem safer.

Lie.

"What the fuck, Maya?" She turned her head and saw her sister walk up to her. "What was that?"

"Why can't you take a hint? Leave me alone!" Maya shouted at her.

"No! Not until you tell me what's going on! Why the hell are you so pissed off?"

And _that_ was when Maya broke.

"I was raped!" She yelled at her. "I was fucking molested and raped while you and everyone else stayed fucking oblivious the whole damn time." She tried to walk away, but her sister held her back.

"Repeat?"

"What the fuck do you want me to repeat? What part of that didn't you understand? WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?" She was screaming at this point, too worked up to care.

"Maya, calm down." Her sister said, but Maya shook her head, she started to walk towards her, causing the older girl to walk backwards.

"No. You're a bitch. Do you realize that? You put my life in fucking danger. And look—look what happened. I turned into a crazy person!"

"You can blame me all you want for that, but you know about your condition, Maya. Did you take your medication? Or did the drugs your so called 'friends' force you to take fuck all that up?"

"My so called 'friends'?" Maya yelled. "_My _so called 'friends'? Who the fuck introduced me to them! You! You did! And since when do you care about my condition? You never did before! Otherwise you wouldn't have gotten me into this crazy mess!" She paused for a moment, breathing before a panic attack settled in and she got even worse. "And for your information…" She started to walk up to her sister again, causing her to back up. "I didn't take any damn drugs tonight. So I'm _not _delusional. It really happened."

Her sister narrowed her eyes, "I wasn't saying it didn't happen. Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Then act like you give a shit! You're supposed to be my sister!"

"I _am _your sister! That's why I'm telling you right now, you need to calm down and listen to me!"

"No, wait. You're just my half-sister. Why should you care?" Maya demanded, "You're only _half _related to me." She stared hard at her. "No wonder dad doesn't talk to you anymore. No wonder. You're the problem child! And that's all you'll ever be! A fucking problem child who doesn't think about anybody but herself!"

She could see her sister was getting exasperated. If her past comment had hurt, she sure didn't show it had. "Will you just act like a grown up for five seconds and open your ears!? I do care! I asked you about your medication, did I not?"

"_Did I not_?" Maya mimicked her, then without any warning, she pushed her sister, causing her to stumble backwards and almost fall off the curb. Luckily she caught herself in time. "Shut the fuck up."

Though her mind was racing and her thoughts were all jumbled up, she still couldn't believe how insensitive her sister was being. Fuck her. She wasn't really trying to help her. She just didn't care.

"Maya…" Her sister spoke softly, "I do care."

"No you don't." Maya snapped. "You never did and you never will. I lived my whole life not knowing you, I think it was best it stay that way."

It was silent in between them for a few minutes, her sister so surprised by her words, she was for once speechless.

"You can't change the past." She finally managed to say a moment later, her voice broken.

"No. But I sure as hell can change my future. Goodbye, Katie." And with that, she turned around and began to walk away. She'd only gotten a few steps ahead, when a _familiar _voice stopped her.

"Hey, bitch."

No. No. No… it _couldn't _be him. She looked up and sure enough it was. Since it had been dark in the club, she was barely able to see him, but now that she could, she realized _exactly _who it was.

Jon, a boy at her school who had a massive crush on her, but she never gave him the time of day. Apparently when he was drunk, he got aggressive and had proved that to her that night.

Especially when she heard the click and felt the cold, hard metal against the side of her head. Her body started to shake, and tears came to her eyes. She started to whimper, but he just pressed the gun against her head harder.

"Don't cry. Or I'll shoot." He threatened and she just clamped her mouth shut, swallowing hard, she nodded her head slightly.

"Get away from her." She heard a voice and looked up see Katie. Her eyes were narrowed and she had a cold look on her face. "You shoot her, I'll kill you. And don't think I won't. I'm not afraid of you."

"I didn't think she was either." Jon said, holding Maya against him, "thought after our little session earlier, she'd be mine."

Katie's eyes widened, "You're—you're the one who raped her? You fucking raped my sister?"

"Whoa! Wait. You two are sisters?"

"Does it matter?" Katie walked up, closer to him. "You are going to pay for what you did."

"Oh yeah?" He pressed the gun against Maya's head harder. "And what way is that?"

Maya watched as Katie looked in between her and Jon, a now fearful look on her face. She could see that Katie was caught in between kicking Jon's ass and her life. She exchanged a look with her, nodding her head slightly, and Katie did the same.

Then without another word, Maya managed to get out of his hold and grab the gun, twisting it around and twisting his arm in the process while Katie kicked him in the _one _place no guy ever liked getting kicked. He fell to the ground and moaned in pain, the gun falling a few feet away, while Maya stood up. Katie continued to kick him.

"Grab the gun!" She yelled at her, but Maya stood there, unsure of what to do. "Grab the gun, Maya!"

She froze, officially more scared than she'd ever been before. A crowd had formed then, and someone was trying to hold Katie back, but she kept fighting, forcing them off her as well. After a few minutes of being frozen, Maya blinked and then quickly grabbed the gun. She held it in front of her, as Katie looked at her. Jon just looked up, after Katie had finished kicking is ass and spit blood onto the street.

"Just so you know, Maya." He began. "I lied." She didn't say anything, and Katie looked at him. "It wasn't me that raped you." He smirked, and Maya felt a click right next to her head, causing her to shake even more violently, the gun still in her hands. "It was my brother."

"You fucking asshole!" Katie screamed, fighting to get to him again, but someone held her back. Maya saw that she had tears in her eyes, and realized that she did too, as her vision was now blurry. She continued to fight against the person, but he held a gun to her head as well, and she stopped struggling.

"Why?" Maya finally managed to say. She felt something inside her snap, but new she couldn't move or do much or she'd be shot, or worse, her sister would be. So instead, she just spoke, her voice strangely calm. "Why would you let your brother do something like that to me?"

Jon just smirked, he stood up, wiping the blood from his face as he got closer to her. "Drop the gun and I'll tell you why."

"No." Maya said, "I'm not dropping the gun."

"I could always force it out of your hands, you know."

"Fuck off."

"Fine. You asked for it." And with that, the gun behind her pressed against her harder, and from the corner of her eye, she saw that it had been against Katie too as she'd heard her cry out, and bend over in pain.

Without a word, she let the gun drop to the floor.

"Now, about why I allowed my brother to do something so gross and nasty to you… well, it was because I couldn't have you. You wouldn't let me have you."

"I'm thirteen you idiot." Maya snapped.

"Not the point. I'm sixteen."

"And your fucking crazy!" Maya yelled at him. "Your insane! Your brother is insane! For all I know, your whole family's insane!"

He started to laugh darkly, shaking his head. "You shouldn't have done that."

Maya said nothing, just stared at him hard, as Katie yelled her name, and from the corner of her eye, she could see she was crying.

"Go to hell." Maya's tone was dark, and without another word, she reached back and kicked the person behind her. He fell forward against her and she fought him, trying to get the gun away from him, but not succeeding.

Everything from that moment on had happened too fast. Her hand had been on the gun, but it had been ripped away from her, and she braced herself for what was about to happen. And soon got it. The multiple gun shots rang through the air, one so close to her, she felt it graze her skin just lightly. The second one was on her other side, just the same, and soon she fell forward, landing on the ground as screams went all over the place around her.

She opened her eyes though and managed to see Katie. She had fallen a blank look on her face, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. The last thing she'd said before falling had been her name. She didn't hear it, since her ears were ringing, but she watched as she mouthed it. And then Katie had fallen backwards.

Ignoring the two guys falling beside her, she managed to use her strength and get up. The sides of her face was tingling and her side was killing her, but she had to make sure Katie was okay. That was her goal.

As quick as she could, she crawled over to her sister. Clutching her side, she felt something warm and removed her hand to see blood gushing from her side. That alone made her lightheaded, but still she had to make sure her sister was okay.

She finally reached her and moved Katie's arm away. There, she saw a gunshot in her chest, and immediately her eyes filled with tears. She started to cry, as a paramedic tried to help her, but she shook her head. She started to kick and scream, but the paramedic kept trying to help her by pulling her away.

"No! Katie!" She screamed and once again pushed against the paramedic, but he was relentless, not letting her go.

"Miss, we need you to come with us." She could barely hear his words, too intent on getting to her sister and the voice was muffled.

"No! No! She's my sister! Don't take me away from her!" She screamed and managed to break free, she knelt over her body and grabbed her sister's hands, intertwining their fingers, she laid her head on her chest, ignoring the blood and cried harder. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." She cried, as she held her lifeless hand tighter. "I love you, I'm so sorry." She whispered, and then suddenly she felt like she was going to pass out. "Katie…" She whispered one last time, before she felt her body go numb and sort of being dragged away.

She watched as someone ran off and immediately wondered who it was.

The last thing she saw was a familiar boy with short brown hair, a red plaid shirt and jeans, crying over her sister's lifeless body. He had a gun in his hand, and it barely registered in her mind before her body went completely numb and she passed out.

* * *

Opening her eyes was a struggle. They felt so heavy she was positive she was never going to be able to open them ever again. But she somehow managed to, moving her hand slightly she felt someone's on top of hers and looked at the person.

It was KC.

What the hell?

She slowly sat up, but felt extremely nauseous, so she stayed where she was, hoping it would just go away. But the sharp pain in her side told her otherwise.

She watched as KC said something to her, but she couldn't hear him. His voice was too muffled. She tapped his hand and shook her head. She tried to say something, but wasn't sure if it came out or not.

KC's eyes widened and he pressed a button. A moment later, someone who she assumed was a doctor and a nurse came in the room. KC spoke with them frantically, and she was able to hear what he was saying, but barely, the muffled sound still there.

"She's…respond….why….what's….on." Were the only things she picked up on.

The doctor's and nurses then rushed over to her and did some things to her before they stopped and she just looked at them. The nurse left for a moment and then came back a few minutes later, a whiteboard and marker in hand. The nurse turned it over and Maya read what was on it.

_Can you hear a word we've said? _

Well, wouldn't they have known that by how she barely responded to anything? She shook her head motioning for the nurse to give her the whiteboard. She did so, and Maya took the marker from her.

_It's muffled_. She wrote. _I can barely hear anything at all, what's going on?_

And with that, the doctor took the marker and erased everything. He wrote a few things down and KC took her hand, holding it reassuringly. Finally he turned it over, so she could see it. She started to read it, tears in her eyes as she read it.

_We did some tests while you were passed out to make sure you're organs and everything was okay as you had been shot in the side, but what he hadn't noticed was that you had been just grazed by two bullets on both sides of your head. You're a lucky one. You just barely got out of it alive. As for the tests we did now, by how little your responding, it seems you've lost your hearing in the shooting. I'm very sorry Miss Matlin._

She looked at KC, and shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She motioned for the board and the doctor handed it to her.

_Did anyone make it alive? _

KC sadly shook his head, and though she wanted to cry, she needed clarification.

_I mean who didn't make it out alive? _

He took the whiteboard and marker from her and erased what she had written.

_Two guys were found dead and a girl. I identified her as your sister. I'm so sorry, Maya. _

No. No… no. Her sister—there was _no _way she was dead.

Maya's body started to shake and she wanted to scream, but realized she couldn't and it made her even more aggravated. She hit the bed and then turned over on her side, hiding her face. She started to kick and hit the bed more as she cried and cried. KC tried to calm her, but she wouldn't let him.

Katie was dead.

Two other guys were dead.

She was now partially deaf.

Her rapist and Katie's possible murderer was still out there.

And now she could never sing or play music ever again.

It was all her fault.

She felt a prick and then her body started to go numb. Scared her body started to shake more, and she bit her lip so hard, she tasted blood.

She was scared, scared to death.

But before she could think on it anymore, her world went black and she couldn't think anymore.

It was over.

* * *

_Present Day_

Maya didn't remember what had happened after she'd woken up. Not after the nightmare she'd had. And she _most _definitely didn't remember texting Cam and telling him to come over.

But the next thing she knew her body was violently shaking and he had his arms wrapped around her, held tightly against him while she cried her eyes out.

"It's okay, Maya. Shh, it's okay." He whispered, but she shook her head.

It wasn't okay and it never would be.

She tried so hard to forget that night. She even spent the last damn year trying but it didn't work. She had been told it was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life, follow her until the day she died.

It should've been _her_, not her sister, that night. But it wasn't, and now she had to live with it.

After a few minutes, she managed to calm down and looked up at Cam. She had somehow managed to sit on his lap, her legs across his as he held her against him, her head going to his neck, and clutching him tightly against her.

He looked at her, and she looked away. She couldn't look him in the eye and feel the way she did. He didn't deserve someone who was so messed up, both emotionally and mentally.

"C-Cam." She whispered and looked at him. His eyes went wide as she'd just spoken a word. He'd never heard her voice before. And even though it was just a whisper, it still somewhat counted to him.

"You just—you… and…what?"

She felt her ears and realized her hearing aids were in. When that had happened, she didn't know. But whoever had put them in for her, she was forever grateful to them.

"You just talked." He finally managed a sentence.

She nodded. It actually caused a strain on her throat and now it hurt, especially from when she had earlier. But still, she wanted to keep trying.

She signed something for him and he watched as she had her left palm face up and her right hand in a thumbs up sign. She put her right hand on top of her left and moved the left hand up slightly. Then she spelled out, '_H-E-L-P_' pointed to herself, and then moved her right hand in a talking motion.

"Help you speak?" He translated and she nodded. He nodded and tried to think of something he could say. "Alright, uhm… tell me something, anything."

She opened her mouth and with struggle, said her very first sentence in over a year. "I'm...so...sorry."

"You're sorry? For what?"

She closed her eyes and tried to speak again, but found it was difficult as her voice was still only a whisper.

"That…you…saw…that." She said a few moments later.

"For what? You crying?" She nodded and he bit his lip. He shook his head and surprisingly leaned his forehead against hers. "You _never_ have to be sorry for that, Maya." It was silent in between them a few minutes before he spoke again. "I can't believe you and I had a vocal conversation, are you okay?"

She nodded and for the first time in a few hours, she smiled. She didn't want to speak again and cause something bad to happen to her vocal chords, but she wanted to say one last thing to him before she went back to signing and texting again.

"Thank…you." She whispered and Cam smiled at her.

"I still can't believe you spoke." He whispered back, and she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, pulling him closer to her.

She leaned up and he leaned in closer, closing his eyes. Their lips had barely touched when Cam suddenly jumped away from her, causing her eyes to tear up. He gave her an apologetic look, and then turned his head to face in front of them. She did the same and saw KC standing there.

'_What do you want?' _She signed and glared at KC.

"Can I tell him?"

She knew what he was referring to and nodded her head.

"Dude, I just had a vocal conversation with her." He stood up, leaving Maya on her bed by herself. She hated that immediately.

"What do you mean a vocal conversation?" KC asked and Maya decided she'd heard enough and took out her hearing aids, placing them on the nightstand beside her. She closed her eyes, exhausted. Though she didn't get much rest since KC had shook her awake.

'_Maya, are you trying to speak again?' _

'_Let me sleep.' _

'_You slept enough. Now answer my question.' _

Maya didn't really feel like doing that, not in the slightest. She was so worn out and exhausted from that day. So instead of answering him like she normally would've done, she just shook her head and turned over on her side facing away.

She grabbed her phone and typed something before handing it to Cam who read it over before giving it to KC who was just observing Maya's strange behavior.

_It wouldn't matter if I wanted to speak again. It hurts my throat like crazy. So there's no point in it. I just want to sleep right now, so please leave me alone. _

KC nodded, and then typed something directly under her message. He handed it to her and then silently left the room. She felt the bed shift a little bit and looked up to see Cam was looking back at her.

'_S-T-A-Y_' She spelled and he nodded his head, laying down beside her, he opened his arm and she laid against his chest, his arm wrapping around her and holding her close to him. She put her hand on top of his and intertwined their fingers. Then with her other hand, she picked up her phone and read what KC had written.

_No matter what you put your mind to, you can do it, sis. Just remember that. _

And above it, she saw something else was there and instantly knew it had been Cam who had written it.

_Remember? No matter how scared you are, just push ahead, and don't look down. _

She then locked her phone and looked up at him. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she reached up and pressed her lips against his cheek. Smiling, she lay down and closed her eyes, the exhaustion from the day finally taking over her body and pulling her into a peaceful, restless sleep.

* * *

**Did anyone catch on to the character I "added" in this chapter? Hint: you'll be seeing more of him later on in the story. He's very important to the story line later on too. Whoever guesses is right gets... a shoutout. Toodles! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Shoutout to Anna, monicaslatest and Naomi Tachi (I assume you mean Jake) for getting who the character I mentioned in the last chapter at the end of Maya's flashback correct. He makes another appearance in this chapter to everyone else's surprise (in the story, I mean). Along with two other characters I mentioned before. I'm sure you guys know who they are though. **

**Thank for all your reviews! Keep them up! I love each and everyone of you who help motivate me with this. So again, thank you. So so much. **

**I own nothing. **

* * *

She woke up, her body feeling a bit restless, and opened her eyes to see she was laying on Cam's chest. Her arms were wrapped around his waist and his arm was wrapped around her, holding her close to him.

Sleepily, she lifted her head and looked at him. He was still fast asleep and she couldn't help but think how cute he was with his hair slightly in his eyes and his chest going up and down as he rested.

She brought her body up a bit and nuzzled his cheek with her nose, turning his head slightly. She then hid her face in his neck and wrapped an arm around his neck, holding him tight against her, breathing in his scent deeply as tears came to her eyes.

She knew he was awake when he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her body close. She felt safe with him, she had from the moment she met him and didn't want to let him go.

His eyes opened and he looked at her shoulder, relaxing as she pulled him close to her. He could sense she needed comfort and immediately hugged her close.

She then pulled back a bit and looked at him. He looked back at her, and she tilted her head to the side while he just shook his head. Then she pulled away from him and stood up, stretching. She saw her hearing aids on the beside table and quickly put them in, then she lay down beside Cam again.

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded.

He smiled at her. "Good, then let's eat."

And with that, she pulled him up with her and down the stairs where she saw KC making food.

"Oh good, you're both awake. I got hungry and made enough to eat ten people. Feel free to take some pasta if you want."

Maya looked at Cam and saw he was already going towards KC.

She could get used to them being close. After all, KC did need new friends, even if they weren't his own age, she at least wanted him to be happy.

It was the least she could do for him. He deserved it after all he'd done for her.

* * *

"What happened to you the other day?" Maya felt someone grab her arm and looked up to see it was Tori. She had a look of concern on her face, but it soon turned into a smile once she saw Cam with his arm around her. "What's this?" She asked, her arms crossed over her chest and a look of interest on her face.

She didn't want to go to school the next day, but KC and Cam had managed to convince her, telling her it would be good for her.

Maya rolled her eyes. Since Tori didn't know much sign language yet, she had to pull out her phone and type what she wanted to say on it.

_Let's go to class weirdo. _

"Yeah, but—"

"You ask so many questions." Zig popped out from out of nowhere, grinning when Tori just glared at him.

"Whatever, fine," She sighed. "You win."

Zig gave Cam a high five. "So, let's talk about this talent show." He rubbed his hands together and then pointed at Cam and Maya. "You two have to teach us the lyrics and well, basically everything regarding the song. After school today? You guys down?"

Maya nodded and Cam made a face. But once Maya had nudged him he laughed and nodded as well, "Yeah, sounds good." He said, speaking for them both.

"Sweet." Tori pulled out her phone, "Let me just text Tristan that, and we'll be good to go."

As everyone laughed, Maya saw something from the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly and noticed someone was watching her. Her blood ran cold, and she felt her body start shaking, but when Cam had pulled her closer, she suddenly seemed fine. Blinking the person was gone, and she looked back towards the school wondering what the hell had just happened.

"You okay?" Cam quietly asked and she nodded. Though the feeling of being scared was suddenly back in her mind again. She gave him a small smile and then they walked in the front doors together, only to be stopped by Jenna and KC.

"Hey girl." Jenna gave her a hug, causing Cam's arm to drop from around her. She waved back. "How are you feeling today?"

'_So-so. But a lot better I guess. My body just needs to catch up.' _

Jenna nodded and smiled when Cam put his arm around Maya again. "Aw, you two are so cute!"

Cam blushed and Maya giggled.

"That's what I said!" Tori backtracked, "Well, I didn't exactly say it, but I definitely thought it." Everyone laughed at that.

"Hey guys!"

Maya looked up from her phone and saw the boy who helped her the other day. She remembered him as Adam. She smiled at him and he hugged her.

She started to sign to him, but realized he probably didn't know sign language, so she looked at KC pointedly. She signed to him and he nodded, translating for Adam.

"She said she wants to thank you and your friends for helping her."

Adam smiled at her, "No problem. Anytime. And speaking of my friends, here they come now. Wait, don't look yet, they're kinda acting all pukey."

Tori laughed, "What does that mean?" He pointedly looked over her shoulder and she and Maya turned to see the girl with curly hair and the boy with dark clothes, holding hands and acting all lovey-dovey with each other. So the other two people who had helped her were boyfriend and girlfriend. That made her smile.

She vaguely remembered noticing it before, but was too into her panic attacked state, that it caused her to forget it a bit.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Adam called and they looked up, shocked at first, but once seeing Maya was there and perfectly fine, they smiled.

"Hey you." The boy said, giving her a hug, the girl with the curly hair did so a moment later as well. "I'm glad to see you're okay. We both are."

"I think it's safe to say _we _all are." Adam corrected him and he rolled his eyes.

"We should probably introduce ourselves." The girl with the curly hair said, she gave Maya another smile. "I'm Clare, and this is my totally rude boyfriend, Eli."

Eli feigned hurt, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Clare just rolled her eyes and laughed.

Maya signed her name, but then huffed frustrated. She couldn't remember if they knew her name or not, but nudged Cam to help her out.

"Her name is Maya," He said, "She doesn't know if you guys know sign language or not."

"I know it." Clare said, surprising Eli and Adam. She shrugged, "I learned when I was little. It was like a requirement in the elementary school I went to."

"Well you beat me." Tori sighed, "I don't know any."

"She's teaching me." Cam said, "I know the alphabet and a few phrases but that's it."

"We should all introduce ourselves." Tori said, realizing not everyone knew who everyone was. They all introduced their selves, Clare, Eli and Adam already knowing Jenna and KC from a few classes they had together, but not knowing Tori, Zig and Cam.

"Okay now that that's over—" Zig began but was cut off by the bell. He sighed. "Alright guys see you in French?" He said to Cam and Maya. They both nodded. "Let's go Tori."

"Don't forget about the song!" Tori called and Cam and Maya nodded again.

"What song?" Adam asked.

"We're going to perform in the talent show." Cam answered. "She and I wrote a song the other day."

"You write songs?" Jenna looked at Maya. She excitedly nodded. "I'm a musician as well! That's so cool." It was silent for a few moments, before Maya got her attention.

'_You should perform with us._' Then she looked around at everyone else. '_Do you guys play too?'_

Jenna translated and Clare nodded. "I play the guitar a bit. But my stepbrother is the more talented one. He play the piano, drums, guitar and writes music like crazy."

"I play the bass." Adam offered.

"I don't play at all. Well, maybe the drums, but that's it." Eli answered.

"You already know, I play the guitar." KC said, and Maya looked at Cam.

"Well, you guys are free to help us if you want." He answered. "In fact, I think Maya strongly suggests it."

"Well, we will definitely think about it." Clare answered, just as a teacher walked by warning them about the second bell. "Well, we should probably get to class."

"Yeah, good idea." KC said, walking with Jenna.

Cam was about to walk, but Maya held him back. She let everyone walk ahead of them before she looked up at him a worried expression on her face.

"Are you scared about the song?" He asked her and she shook her head. "Then what's wrong?" He saw a tear slip down her cheek, and he instantly knew something was wrong. "Maya?"

She pointed to herself and then spelled out, '_S-C-A-R-E-D'. _Then she motioned to her eyes and then signed, '_somebody_'.

"You saw someone?" He guessed and she nodded. "Why did they scare you?"

She shook her head, both her thumbs touched her other fingers and she shook them. Then she wiped one hand across her forehead. '_N-O-T-H-I-N-G. F-O-R-G-E-T I-T' _she spelled out.

"No, Maya." Cam took his arm off her, and took her hand a moment later. He pulled her aside to a bench, ignoring the bell. "Talk to me."

She pulled out her phone. _We have to talk about this later. Right now we have class. _

"Forget class for a moment." Cam's voice came off as exasperated. "I want to know what's bugging you."

She bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears. Immediately he wrapped his arms around her, and she fell against his chest, softly crying. He knew he wasn't going to get it out of her then, but he made a mental note to get it out of her sometime.

After a few minutes she sat up and hastily wiped her eyes. Then she stood up, taking Cam's hand with her, she pulled him up and they walked silently to class together.

* * *

The first thing Maya noticed after school was how crowded the music room was. There had to be at least ten people there. But everyone was sitting in a chair, so there was enough space to move around if anyone needed to.

Looking behind her at Cam, he took a seat and she sat down next to him. Everyone else was around them.

"Okay, so… Maya. Cam. What's this song you guys wrote?" Zig asked as he walked back from closing the door to the room so they could have privacy. Maya quickly dug into her bag and pulled out her precious purple song book. She opened it to the page she wanted and handed it to him.

Tori leaned over his shoulder and read it. "Oh my god you guys, this song is amazing!"

"Yeah, holy shit." Zig agreed and then handed it to everyone else. Jenna soon got it and looked up from strumming her guitar.

"Impressive. I love it." She said, smiling at Maya who blushed.

"Alright so now that everyone has read it, Maya's gonna show you how to play the tune we came up with." Cam said once the book was handed to him. He motioned for Maya to play, but she shrugged. She didn't have a guitar with her.

"Here, Maya." Jenna handed her, her guitar. "You can borrow mine today."

Maya smiled in thanks, and then took it, positioning where her fingers needed to be, she looked up at KC who just looked back at her. She could see his eyes watering, and bit her lip to keep from crying herself. She couldn't blame him really; she hadn't played in forever (excluding that time when she played for Cam). For KC it had been a very long time.

She strummed it, at first nervously, but then became more confident as she continued on and on until it was over. Everyone clapped and she smiled wide.

"Good job, sis." KC high fived her, "That was amazing."

"It really was." Clare agreed, her phone suddenly went off, and she looked down. "Oh uh, my stepbrother wants to come join us. Is that okay?"

No one objected so she sent him a quick text.

"Play it again." Jenna said, "I want to hear it again."

Maya nodded and did as Jenna had asked. Towards the end of it, she looked up, at Adam and smiled. He smiled back at her. She continued to play until she abruptly stopped. Adam looked at her, concerned, but she had her eyes over his shoulder. He and everyone else, turned to see the door open, and once the person who had opened it, stepped inside and looked up, she felt tears come to her eyes.

"Oh hey. For everyone who doesn't know, this is my stepbrother—"

"Jake."

They all heard and looked to Maya, surprised. Jake looked at her, confused, but once he heard her say his name, recognition flashed over his face.

"Did you just—" Zig started, but didn't finish. He was too in shock.

Jake. Jake was _here_, at her _new _school; at Degrassi. She couldn't believe it.

"You… two know each other?" Eli asked, and Jake nodded.

"Well, there's a twist." Adam commented. "I bet no one was expecting that."

"But how?" KC was the next person to ask his question, ignoring Adam.

"Katie." Jake simply said, KC's eyes widened and Maya sat there frozen. "Uhm, its nice to see you, Maya."

"Maya?" Cam noticed how pale she looked, almost like she was going to throw up or pass out. She didn't move, or barely even blinked.

"Maya? Are you okay?" KC rushed over to her. "Come on, My. React, cry, do _something_." She was scaring him (and probably everyone else) by how still she was being.

It took another few moments, but she _finally_ did something and it wasn't anything everyone was expecting.

She immediately jumped up, handing Jenna's guitar to Cam, and rushed towards Jake, and to the shock of everyone else, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. He hugged her back and then she stepped away, looking behind her at all her friends, she looked to the ground, clearly embarrassed.

She signed something quickly to KC and he nodded.

"You can join us. She wants you to, you know, in case you were getting any ideas on leaving or something." KC told him and he nodded.

"Read my mind, Maya."

She nodded, and then returned to her seat, numbly taking the guitar from Cam, who just mindlessly handed it back to her.

She started to play the song again, but Tori interrupted her. "Look, I know it's like none of my business, but really, I think I speak for everyone when I ask this. How the hell do you two know each other?"

"I already told you," Jake responded, "Katie."

"Okay." Tori nodded, "Because that so gave us a lot of information. Who's Katie?"

"Uhm, she was my girlfriend." Jake said, pulling out his notebook, he flipped the pages, and played with it, clearly uncomfortable.

"And of what relation is she to Maya?" Tristan asked the next question, causing Maya to look up at him a sharp, hurt look on her face. She was also frustrated because she couldn't speak or yell at him like she wanted to.

And though she was _dying _to know as well, Jenna spoke up, exchanging a look with Adam, Eli and Clare who nodded in agreement. "Look, clearly they don't want to talk about it, so let's just focus on this song, alright? When they want to talk, they'll talk."

"Thanks Jenna." KC whispered and she gave him a small smile in return.

Cam meanwhile, thought back to what Maya had told him. She had told him a lot about her past, but he had a feeling she left something out, and he had another feeling it had to do with Clare's stepbrother.

Maya started to play the song again, and everyone intently watched her. Afterwards, she wrote down a few things, and handed the notebook to Cam.

"Alright, so now that you know the song, who wants to do what?"

"I can play the keyboard," Tristan offered.

"I can sing." Tori and Jenna.

"I can play bass." Adam.

"I can play the drums." Eli.

"I can help coordinate everything." Clare.

"I can play backup guitar." KC said, "I think Maya should play in the actual performance."

"And uh, I guess I'll just be the other lead singer." Zig said.

Cam and Maya nodded in agreement.

"Perfect." Cam said and everyone nodded.

"What about you?" Clare asked Jake. "Do you want to play anything?"

Jake shook his head. "I'm fine. I'll go and support the show though. That I won't miss."

Maya looked at him gratefully and he gave her a small smile in return.

"Alright then it's settled. Let's make this the best damn performance, the school has ever seen." Eli declared and everyone cheered in agreement.

Things were looking up for them.

* * *

Cam sat across from Maya, looking at her while she ate her lunch the next day at school. She hadn't really said much to him and since he had an intense hockey practice the night before, they hadn't talked much either.

Everyone knew not to bring up how she knew Jake, now that they knew she was willing to talk about it when she wanted to.

But as Cam watched her switch from eating to writing in her songbook, he came to a realization.

He liked her. He liked her a lot. And just because she was different and used sign language instead of speaking, didn't make him like her any less.

"Maya." He said quietly, and she looked up at him. "How are you today?"

She put her thumb to her chest and hit it once. He remembered her telling him it meant '_fine_'. "That's good." He smiled at her and she smiled back, then went back to writing in her notebook. He looked down at the sports magazine he had been reading for only a few minutes, before he saw Maya's hand waving in his face.

"Yeah?"

She pointed to herself, and then pointed to somewhere else. She signed the letter 'r' and then pointed her fingers downwards, bouncing it. He nodded, and watched her leave to the bathroom. Though she had pushed her notebook towards him, without saying anything about it, so he wondered if she had meant it or if she did it accidently.

And though he knew he shouldn't read it, he couldn't help himself. He looked up to see if she was on her way back yet, and then pulled the notebook towards himself more.

He had just started to read it when someone startled him.

"What are you doing?"

He nearly jumped ten feet in the air.

"Oh shit!" He turned around and saw Jake standing there, an amused look on his face. "You scared me. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I uh, wanted to talk to you." He said, and motioned to the seat next to him. Cam rubbed his chest and then motioned for him to take the seat.

"What's up?" He asked, "You know, besides scaring me to death."

"I just wanted to tell you that, I know Maya trusts you… like a lot. And I think that's a good thing." He nodded motioning for him to continue. "I talked to KC, her stepbrother. He doesn't know me, at all. But I went up to him and I told him everything. In return, he told me that he knew Katie, but didn't know she had been seeing someone."

Cam narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean exactly?"

Jake sighed, "I know Maya told you everything that happened to her. And though I haven't spoken to her in months, I'm just happy to see that she's totally okay since Katie hadn't been so lucky."

"Wait, back up for a sec. How exactly do you know them other than that Katie's your ex?"

Jake looked down and then looked back up at him. "I was there that night."

"You mean…" Cam was hit with realization and it made his head spin.

"Yeah. I uh, I had tried to save Katie, but obviously that didn't work out."

"You—you saved Maya's life." Cam said and Jake nodded his head. It was silent in between them for a few more minutes, before Cam hugged him gratefully. "That's… that's amazing." He said once he pulled away from him.

"I hope she thinks so too and isn't pissed that I wasn't able to save Katie's as well."

"I don't think she's mad at you. If anything honestly, she should be grateful. Which I think she is."

Jake gave him a smile, "Thanks, man."

"No prob." He said, and then looked over his shoulder. "She's coming this way if you want to talk to her."

He looked behind him a moment and then back at him shaking his head. "I'll give her time, but uh… if you want me to be honest." He leaned in closer, "I think you should make your move and soon." He whispered and then leaned back, lightly laughing at Cam's expression.

"You what?"

"It was obvious the moment I walked into the room. You guys have something, don't let it go." And with that, he stood up and walked away, Maya taking his place not even a few seconds later. She looked at Cam questioningly, but he shook his head, putting his arm around her he leaned in close.

"You feeling better?"

She smiled and nodded, giving him a quick hug.

"Good." He smiled back.

* * *

"Okay, red nail polish it is." Tori said, taking the bottle Maya handed to her. She opened it, and then started to apply it to Maya's toes.

It was now that weekend. Tori had asked Maya to spend the night at her house, but since Maya didn't like being far from KC, especially considering her past, she had Zig ask her if she could spend the night at her house instead, to which Tori excitedly agreed to.

She had been there for about a couple hours now, and had been communicating via text message.

"So," Tori began after she did a couple toes. "I've been learning some sign language from Zig the past couple days." She looked up to see Maya's eyebrows were raised. "I only know the alphabet."

Maya nodded, she typed something into her phone and then Tori's phone beeped a few minutes later.

_Cam does too. But also other phrases as well. _

"Can you teach some to me?"

Maya nodded.

Her phone went off again.

_I'd be more than happy to. But let's do it if something comes up, it's how I teach Cam as well. _

Tori smiled, "Sounds good to me, kid."

Maya rolled her eyes.

_KC calls me that_.

Tori laughed. "Who could blame him? You are his kid sister after all."

Maya nodded. But didn't say anything to her. She heard her phone go off, and picked it up, looking at the screen.

**Hey, Milky. What's up? **

She smiled and sent Cam a quick text back.

_You are the definition of your name, Cheesy. And not much, having a sleepover with Tori. _

**Sounds like fun. I'm just at home, bored out of my mind. But I have to leave in an hour for hockey practice. **

_Well, have fun with that. Text me when it's over? _

**Of course, you know I always do. **

She giggled, and Tori looked up at her.

"Are you texting Cam?" She asked, "ooh-la-la."

Maya rolled her eyes. Then pointed at her and spelled out, '_J-E-A-L-O-U-S?' _

"Jealous? Me? No way!" Tori then grinned at her, her eyes going from Maya's toes to her face. "You two are cute together. And also, you're seriously blushing right now." Her eyes lit up. "Do you like him?"

Maya nodded, and then linked her two index fingers together. She spelled out a moment later, '_F-R-I-E-N-D-S'_.

"I think you're more than that at this point. I see the way you two look at each other. It's okay to admit you like him, Maya. No one said it was crime."

Maya bit her lip, and looked away. Then a moment later, she looked up at Tori. Picking her phone up, she sent her a message, the older girl's phone going off not even a moment later.

_Yes, I like him. _

Tori grinned.

It was about time she admitted it. Now to get him to admit it too. Then they could say it to each other and live happily ever after, she hoped.

Her phone went off in the middle of her daydream.

_We almost kissed the other day, but KC interrupted us. _

"What?" She squealed, throwing her phone to the side. "Oh my god! Maya! Why didn't you say anything? Well, I mean, you know what I mean…" She trailed off causing Maya to laugh. Maya typed a message into her phone again and Tori sighed, going to get hers back.

_Because I wasn't sure how he felt about me. I'm still not to be honest. _

"Let me tell you this, I'm good at reading other people and I'm pretty sure he feels the same way."

_I hope so. _

"No." Tori spoke softly. Maya looked at her. "I know so."

Maya bit her lip. _Tell him to make a move already then. _

Tori smiled at her, "I will do my best. But we'll see. No promises. He may just want to surprise you and do it all on his own."

Maya made a face. _I'm getting so impatient, lol. _

"Oh, I bet." Tori looked up from her phone. "But don't worry. It'll happen and when it does… well, it'll be amazing. Trust me."

Maya looked at her toes, and then back up at Tori who was looking at her. Both girls giggled and then Maya pulled her into a hug.

'_Thank you_'. She mouthed and Tori nodded, able to read what she'd mouthed.

"No problem girl. Now ready for a manicure?"

Maya nodded excitedly. Though as Tori prepared to do her nails, her mind flashed back to the person she'd seen the day Jake came back into her life. She hoped to god, it wasn't someone from her past.

"Maya?"

She hadn't realized her eyes were closed until she opened them and saw Tori looking at her, concerned.

"Are you okay?"

Maya nodded, and then taking a deep breath, she decided to just focus on her girl's night with Tori.

Everything else could wait until later.

* * *

**I didn't want the story to drag on forever. So, yeah. There's Jake. As well as others... they're all participating in the talent show. How nice of them.**

**To clear something up. KC knew Katie, but never met Jake. Jake was dating Katie and tried to save her and Maya, but only ended up saving Maya. She never saw him after that, and had no idea he was going to her new school. So, it's kinda like in the show when Jake show's up into Clare's life after six or how ever many years it was when he last saw her. So figure it like he met up with Clare and their parents got married to each other all in the year, Maya and Jake hadn't seen each other. Make sense? If not let me know. **

**CAM AND MAYA FINALLY ADMIT THEY LIKE EACH OTHER. Though the other doesn't know it yet. Lol. Next chapter should be exciting for you guys. Can't reveal anything yet though... I think I kinda did. Whoops.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Don't kill me for the end of this. Their first kiss will happen soon enough. But not in a normal, sweet way. That's the only hint y'all are getting about it. **

**I don't own the song by Laura Marano that I thought fit perfectly for this story too. Cam wrote it here, but obviously he didn't ever... in any lifetime. **

**I own nothing else. Enjoy.**

* * *

"_Maya… you need to live a little. You know? Be rebellious."_

_She couldn't help but scoff at that. "And get arrested? Yeah. No thanks." _

_Katie just rolled her eyes, "What's wrong? Afraid of a little excitement in your life? Just take a chance. I promise you, you won't regret it." _

_Maya bit her lip. "Sure I won't." _

_Katie let out a sigh and put her hand on her shoulder. Then she looked straight in her eyes, "I believe in you." She whispered. "You can do anything, you know.. you need to believe in yourself." _

_Maya closed her eyes, and then nodded. "Thanks Katie." _

_Her sister smiled. "No problem, baby sis." _

* * *

Maya woke up, sitting up quickly in her bed. She looked beside her only to see she was alone and it made her cry. Her dream felt so real, like it had happened the day before.

She put her head in her hands and softly cried for a few minutes. Then she picked up her phone and looked at the time only to see it was about four in the morning. And even though she knew she shouldn't, she sent Cam a text.

_I just woke up from a bad dream. Wish you were here. See you later. _

And then she lay back in her bed and tried to go back to sleep, but found it near impossible.

She just wanted Cam with her.

* * *

"Hey." Maya looked up from putting her books in her locker, to see Cam leaning against the one beside hers. "I uh… are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?"

She surprised him then by slamming her locker shut with all the force she could and hiding her face in her hands. He could see she really wasn't okay, though he knew that the moment he saw her that morning. Wordlessly, he wrapped his arms around her and held her. She didn't cry or anything though. She just bit her lip, and then looked up at him. He looked down at her, and she stepped back, pulling out her phone she typed something to him and he took the phone from her a moment later.

_I want to speak again. _

"What's stopping you?"

She shrugged, then took the phone from him again.

_I also want to sing again too. _

"Again, what's stopping you?"

She pointed to her hearing aids, and then moved her index finger in front of her mouth.

'_C-A-N-T S-P-E-A-K' _She spelled out.

"You have to me a few times before." He said and she nodded, realizing he was right. "Maybe if you keep trying you'll be able to again."

She took her phone from him only to hand it back a moment later.

_I talked to my parents about it. My stepmother told me I'd have to go the speech therapy and get singing lessons. _

"Look, Maya… if it's what you really want. I think you should do it. I hope you know it's going to take a while, but I'll be here. I'll support you all the way through it." He gave her an encouraging smile, and she couldn't help but smile back.

Her dream flashed through her mind, and she thought about what Katie would've said if she was there. She'd probably encourage her to try as well.

'_O-K_' She signed. Cam clapped his hands excitedly and then hugged her tight against him.

They pulled away then, and looked at each other, sharing a moment. She unconsciously started to lean up towards him and he leaned down towards her. Their lips were _about _to touch, when once again, Cam pulled away from her, causing her to pout. What the hell happened _this _time? She heard a ringing and realized it was the damn bell.

"We should get to class." Cam sounded so disappointed. So to make up for it, she grabbed his face, and then pressed her lips against his cheek. She pulled away and smiled at him, he smiled back at her, and then took her hand in his. They walked together to class, and she took her usual seat next to Tori, Tristan and Zig.

"So?"

Maya motioned that she had no clue what Tori was talking about. Also the fact that Tori was grinning like she was high wasn't lost on Maya at all either.

"You and Cam. Are you official yet?"

Maya shook her head.

Tori looked confused. "But you were holding hands."

Maya waved her hand in Zig's face, and he looked at her.

'_Translate for me please?' _He nodded. '_It doesn't mean anything. I just needed that comfort. We're still just friends.' _

Zig translated, and Tori huffed frustrated. "But you guys are so close and—ugh! Just get together already!"

Tristan laughed at her. "We're both rooting for you and Cam, Maya." He said and Maya nodded.

'_S-A-M-E'_ She spelled out and then before anyone could say anything more the teacher walked in and started to lesson.

Though Maya looked behind her to see Cam smiling at her. She blushed and smiled back, then turned to the front of the class again, the smile never leaving her face.

"See?" Tori nudged her and she nodded.

Now she understood _exactly_ where Tori was coming from.

* * *

"So I was thinking about this," Adam spoke up, later that day at their rehearsal for the talent show. "I think we should have one lead singer. Or really one singer to sing with Zig."

Maya and Cam nodded, agreeing to this. Soon everyone else did as well.

"So, who should sing?" Jenna asked Tori, to which the younger girl gave her a huge smile.

"I think you should, honestly. You're amazing. Plus, you've had way more experience with it than I have."

Jenna smiled at her, "Thanks. That means a lot to hear that. But for the record, I think you have an amazing voice as well."

"Really? Yay!" Tori squealed causing Jenna to laugh. "Thanks for saying that though."

"No problem."

Maya waved in both their faces and they looked at her. She motioned to her guitar, and they nodded. Jenna went to the front of the room where the mike was, Zig beside her and the band behind her.

Maya started to play the first few chords, and Zig started to sing.

"_Yeah, whoa._ _I'm walking on a thin line, and my hands are tied. Got nowhere to hide. I'm standing at a crossroads. Don't know where to go, feeling so exposed." _He stepped aside and Jenna took his spot.

"_Yeah I'm in between where I'm going and where I've been, but I know there's no turning back. Yeah!" _

Maya suddenly stopped playing, and looked at them. She grinned and put her two thumbs up. Eli looked at her from behind the drums set.

"Hey! I didn't even get to my cue yet!"

She rolled her eyes. Then she had her left thumb against her other fingers and her other hand, palm up. She moved her left hand against her right hand, and then spelled out, _'A-G-A-I-N_'.

They all nodded, and started over.

* * *

"That was amazing!" Jenna gushed as she put away her guitar, letting her voice rest for a while. Zig nodded in agreement.

"We're going to win this for sure."

Maya nodded excitedly and put away her guitar. She had just closed the case, when she felt a hand on top of hers and looked up to see the boy who made her heart melt whenever she thought of him or was around him.

He gave her a smile. "Hey. So… I uh wanted to show you something."

He pulled out a small black book and opened it to the page that was bookmarked. "I sort of maybe wrote a song the other day." He handed her the book and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to see what you thought of it."

She looked up at him and then down at the book, reading the lyrics.

_Have you ever had the feeling  
That you can't believe what you're seeing  
Head is spinning, in slow motion  
Heart is pounding, time is frozen  
Don't close your eyes  
Look around, your dreams are coming alive  
Don't be surprised  
You were born to shine_

She continued to read it until it abruptly stopped. Tears were in her eyes.

She pointed to the song and the moved her hand in front of her face, her fingers spread apart and then coming together. '_B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L_' she spelled out. Then she kissed her fist and pointed at the song again. '_L-O-V-E I-T_'.

"Really?"

She nodded.

"I may have possibly—" He stopped himself, causing her to look at him confused. "I'm just really glad you like it."

She nodded and then hugged him. Then she pulled away and gave the book back to him after gently closing it.

"Aw, Eli. They're just like us when we first met." Clare gushed from across the room, causing Eli to roll his eyes and Adam to laugh.

"No, if I remember correctly… you both made me want to puke when you two first met." Adam commented.

"We did not!" Clare exclaimed causing both Eli and Adam to laugh.

"All I remember is when you two started going out, all you did was make-out." Jenna said. "Boy did I want to barf too. I think I even talked to Adam about it at one point…"

Clare rolled her eyes and put his arm around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head.

"So uh, why haven't you two made out yet?" Eli bluntly asked, earning a smack in the stomach from his girlfriend. "Ow. What was that for?"

"For being stupid." Clare simply said, smiling so that he knew she was just joking.

"So violent." He muttered, laughing at her shocked expression. "But seriously… answer the question, Maya. Cam."

Maya looked away, blushing and Cam opened his mouth to say something, but found it wasn't easy.

"This just got interesting." Tristan commented and both Zig and Tori nodded in agreement. KC just rolled his eyes.

"We—we just… we're close." Cam finally managed to say and Maya nodded. "That's it."

"But you wrote a song for her—oops."

Cam glared at Zig. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone that."

"Oh my god!" Tori squealed. "You wrote the song she just read for her? That's so cute!"

"And romantic." Eli added.

Maya looked at Cam. She didn't have to say anything for him to understand her.

"Yeah, I wrote it about you. You inspired me." He said, somewhat hesitant to what her reaction would be. To his surprise, she signed, '_thank you_' and then immediately pulled him in for a bear hug with one arm around his neck. Her other hand ran down his arm until she reached his hand and then she linked their fingers together. She held him for a few more minutes and then pulled away.

"Well, it looks like there's a lot in the open and that you two should talk about. We'll be going now." KC spoke up, and then started to push everyone else out.

"But it just got good!" Eli whined, "Why make us leave?"

"Would you want your moment to be interrupted if this was you and Clare?" KC asked, and Eli thought about it before shaking his head.

"Good point."

"Exactly, so out. Everyone but Cam and Maya. Leave." He ordered and everyone reluctantly did as he asked, while Cam and Maya watched them, amused.

"Your brother is so weird." Cam teased, and Maya rolled her eyes, nodding.

"Cam." She whispered, surprising him. She let go of his hand wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close enough that his forehead was leaning against hers.

"I don't think we'll get interrupted this time." She nodded in agreement, but didn't make a move to kiss him. He didn't either. "Call me Cheesy—oh wait, you already do." She giggled at that. "But I think this should be more special you know? Our first kiss together."

She poked his chest with her finger, and then put her hand to her chest, moving it away, a few fingers out, she then pointed to herself. He knew what that meant.

"If it wasn't obvious already… yes."

She put her hand in the shape of a 'y' and then turned it sideways, moving it in between herself and Cam. '_Same_.'

They stared at each other for a few minutes, before Cam spoke. "Maya… I really want to kiss you." She nodded, giving him a smile. "But I also want it to be special." She sighed.

'_Same_.' She signed again and let her arms drop, but then a grin came over her face. She took out her phone and typed on it before giving it to him.

_I can't wait. _

He smiled at her and then hugged her close.

"You're awesome, Maya."

And for once in her life, she truly felt as though she was.

* * *

"Hey guys." KC nearly tripped running to Maya, Cam, Tori, Zig and Tristan's table. He handed Zig a flyer he found, "Check that out."

Zig looked at him a moment, and then at the paper. "It says something about an open mike night at the coffee house right down the street. Why did you give this to me?"

"I meant to give it to Cam, sorry." KC glared at him, taking the paper from him, he handed it to Cam. Since they were the only one's there, he decided it was best to show them then.

"Why me?" He asked, and KC rolled his eyes.

"If I recall, you came to me, literally the day after you showed Maya your song… like I don't know, last week, and told me you wanted to surprise her with something special."

"And you're condoning this? I thought you were the older over protective stepbrother type." Zig commented.

KC glared at him again. "I am. But I trust Cam. You, I'm still not sure about."

Zig's mouth dropped and Cam laughed, leaning back in his chair.

"So anyway…" KC focused on Cam again. "I know you're supposed to be this hockey prodigy and all that shit, but really… I think showing a soft, sensitive side isn't such a bad thing. Jenna agrees with me on this, just so you know. In fact, it was kinda her idea. Can't take all the credit, she'd kill me."

"Yeah." Cam agreed. "We wouldn't want that."

"So you'll do it?"

"Did I already agree to it?"

"Agree? You barely acknowledged it." Zig scoffed.

"Answer my question!" KC complained. "I'm hungry."

Cam stared at him for a few minutes before throwing his hand up in surrender. "Yeah, sure. Fine. I'll do it." He went back to eating his lunch, looking at KC through narrowed eyes.

"It's for Maya." He reminded him.

"I know." Cam nodded, smiling after he swallowed his food.

"Good. Because I already signed you up. It's this Thursday at 8:00pm. Don't be late!" And with that, KC quickly hurried off.

"Wha—" Cam started to protest, but Zig held his hand up and shook his head.

"Can't explain it. Won't even try."

Cam just sat back, a look of shock on his face. He couldn't believe he was really going to do it.

Now he was more nervous than he'd ever been in his life.

* * *

"I think you should wear this!" Jenna held up a short pastel pink babydoll, spaghetti strap dress. Clare's face lit up once she saw it, and Tori nodded in agreement.

"It's perfect." Tori said, as Jenna held it up against Maya's body while Clare disappeared inside her closet.

She came back a moment later, with white heels. They were about three inches. Maya was surprised to find she'd still had them.

"Here, these will be perfect to go with the dress." Maya nodded, and then signed something to Jenna and Clare.

'_Will you guys be there too?' _

Clare nodded. "Yeah, everyone's going. And by that I mean, Eli, myself, Adam, his stepbrother, Drew, Drew's girlfriend, Bianca, Adam, Jake, Zig, Tristan… basically a lot of people from school." Clare waved her off.

"It was exhausting wasn't it?" Jenna asked and Clare made a face.

Maya turned to Tori. She gave her a look. Tori sighed and nodded excitedly.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss this!"

Clare and Jenna's eyes widened from behind Maya. They shook their heads and moved their hands wildly. Maya wasn't supposed to know what was going on. She just figured they were all going to a coffee shop to hang out, though had been suspicious about having to wear a nice dress. Though once Jenna had explained that it was some sort of school tradition on open mike night, she understood…though the feeling of suspicion never left her.

"Come on, My. Let's go do your hair and make up." Jenna suggested and Maya nodded. She sat down in the chair in front of mirror and all three girls got to work getting her ready.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she hoped she didn't make a fool of herself. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Cam.

* * *

"So let me understand this correctly." Dallas was speaking to Cam who was mindlessly strumming a guitar on the stage at the coffee house. "You're going to perform a song. One that you wrote for a girl you've got the hots for?"

Cam nodded, "Yeah, thanks for summing that up." He muttered sarcastically.

Dallas sat next to him. "I don't get it. I honestly had no idea you were a musician."

Cam looked at him, "It wasn't really something I was willing to broadcast to the whole world. This song is actually really special to me and I hope she likes it."

Dallas gave him an encouraging smile, "I have a feeling she will."

"You think so?"

Dallas punched him on the shoulder. "Rook, I know so."

"Thanks. That helps a lot." Cam gave him a smile and then started to strum the guitar again.

"Yo, Cam!" Adam walked up to him, a dark haired, dark skinned guy and a girl who had the same hair and skin color as the boy behind him. "Uh, this is Drew, my stepbrother and his girlfriend, Bianca. They're here to give you moral support."

"Any idea where KC and Jenna are?"

Adam shook his head. "Last I heard they were with Maya and Clare."

"Hey guys." Eli came up to them a moment later. "Cam, how you doing? Ready for this?"

Cam nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"You'll do fine." Eli gave him a smile and then turned to Drew high five. "What's up dude?"

"Not much, bro."

Jenna then suddenly ran past Eli and up to Cam, giving him a big smile. She grabbed a mic and leaned in close to him. "She's here." She whispered, and he looked up at her. She pointed ahead and he looked to see she was with Clare and Tori, in a light pink strapless dress, her hair straightened with a a bit pulled back in the top middle, and heels. She also had on make-up, though her lips just looked plain.

He could honestly say he'd never seen her look more beautiful.

She was playing with a ring on her finger, twisting it around and around, also playing with the bracelets on her wrist and switching it up every few minutes.

"Alright dude. You're up in five minutes." KC whispered to him as he passed and he nodded.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up and got ready, his eyes catching Maya's as she just looked up at him, clearly confused.

He decided he couldn't want any longer, and just decided to start right then. "Hey guys." He said into the microphone. "I uh… this is kind of my first performance where I'm going to sing a song I actually wrote a song myself. But my friend, Jenna is here to help, so I guess I wont be completely alone." That earned a laugh and he grew confident. "This is for a very special girl who, though I've only known a couple of months, she changed my life." He turned to Jenna, who gave him the thumbs up.

He started to strum the right chords on the guitar, and then started to sing the song. When the chorus came, Jenna sang with him, but he just kept his eyes on Maya who brought her hands up to her mouth. He could see Clare had said something to her, but didn't think anything of it. He just continued the song.

He looked back at Jenna a moment who was singing, she gave him a wink and continued on, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Then they were finished and were met with a loud round of applause. Everyone ran up to them and gave them hugs, while Cam loved and appreciated everyone for it; he noticed one girl in particular was missing.

"Hey, where's Maya?" He heard someone ask, but wasn't paying attention to who it was.

He didn't have to look for too long, since he saw her, by the door. She made a motion for him to come to her, and did, handing his guitar to Eli, he went after her. When he caught up to her, she surprised him by taking his hand, and pulling him outside with her.

Then she stopped and he looked at her confused. She rubbed her fist against her chest, pointed to herself, and then held both hands in front of her, the tips of her middle fingers touching. Then she moved them upwards and over her head. He still looked at her confused, so she spelled out, '_O-V-E-R-W-H-E-L-M-E-D'. _

"I didn't mean to overwhelm you." He responded and she shook her head.

'_Not you_.'

"Then what over whelmed you?"

She pointed to herself, and then spelled out, '_F-E-E-L-I-N-G-S'. _Then she demonstrated how to sign it by touching her middle finger the left part of her chest and moved it up twice.

Now he knew what was going on. She was too shy to tell him her feelings for him. He smiled at her and gave her a hug, holding her tight against him. She just looked at him, now confused herself.

She broke the hug, smiling at him, '_I loved your song_.'

"You did, did you?" She nodded happily.

'_It made me so happy. Thank you_'.

He smiled a huge smile at her. "Do you want to go back inside?" She nodded and he took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers, holding her tight, they walked back inside the coffee house together. Maya's head was on his shoulder, and he was softly rubbing her hand with his thumb.

"Aww, look how cute!" Jenna squealed. "So?"

Maya tilted her head confused.

So Jenna signed to her, '_Are you two together_?'

Maya lifted her head and looked up at Cam. He didn't need a translator to understand what Jenna had signed, so he just looked at Maya. They had a silent conversation and then nodded their heads. Turning to Jenna, they nodded to confirm what Jenna had asked.

"Yeah, we're together." Cam said for everyone else.

Jenna squealed again and everyone immediately hugged them, causing their hands to break apart. Maya laughed and hugged Tori tight. Then she hugged KC who just smiled down at her, his forehead touching hers.

"If he doesn't treat you right, you let me know. But I know him, and I know you'll be fine. I trust him."

'_Same_'. She signed and KC grinned, hugging her again.

"I'm so happy for you."

She just smiled at him and then went back over to Cam. She motioned in between them, and then signed, '_go?' _

He nodded, sensing that she just wanted some alone time with him.

"Go ahead guys." KC said, before he could say anything. "Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. Go enjoy your night." Everyone agreed. "See? No one will be mad. Go ahead."

Maya waved at him and then they left the coffee shop. Still holding hands, they walked down the street. Maya looked up at the cloudy night sky.

"It looks like it's going to rain." Cam said, and Maya laughed, nodding her head. They soon got their answers when Maya felt a rain drop on her head and looked at him. She saw a rain drop on his jacket, and pointed at it. He gave her a small smile and she rolled her eyes. Since it was raining very lightly, they decided to sit on a bench. They faced each other their hands still not letting go of the other's. "So, I know we told everyone else we're together, but we kinda didn't talk about that."

She gave him a look. She was going to pull out her phone to communicate with him, but he shook his head. She looked at him confused.

"You'll ruin your phone." Was his explanation.

She nodded.

"So what do you think?" He asked her, and she decided to try something. Sure her throat would kill her, but she knew it would be worth it in the end.

"I…think we should…be together." She said, clearly, and just slightly above a whisper. Then she signed, '_I really like you.'_

He smiled, and covered one of her cheeks with his hand. "I really like you too. But you already knew that."

She laughed, '_Same_'.

It had started to rain harder then, but they ignored it. Staring at each other, they realized there was no one there to interrupt them. If they wanted to kiss, they could. Interruption free.

But they both seemed to have a mutual, silent agreement that they didn't want to kiss each other quite yet. They wanted to do it, when they felt it was right and not because of some cheesy moment.

That caused her to giggle.

"What?"

She just shook her head, and leaned in closer. Then she softly kissed his cheek. He smiled at her as she pulled away. But before he could say anything more, she stood up, pulling him with her, she led him to a spot where they could stay somewhat dry. And just leaned him against the wall. Then she turned around her back to him, and wrapped his arm around her, cuddling more into his body warmth.

Then they just watched the rainfall together. Neither of them wanting to change the moment for anything.

It was perfect. The whole night was perfect.

* * *

**So wonderfully _cheesy_ isn't it? BIG SURPRISE NEXT CHAPTER. Yay.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Finally updated this damn story. Sorry it took so long. I was busy. No promises on when I'll update next though. Hopefully soon. Writer's block and busy schedules can be such a bitch sometimes. **

**Just to say, it's going to get intense from here on out. Of course there will be cute moments, but yeah. Also, there's a reason Maya is the way she is. Not so innocent anymore ;) **

**I think Imogen would make a good friend to both Cam and Maya. So... we'll see. Next chapter's gonna be musical I guess you could say, heh. **

**I hope you enjoy it. Review! **

* * *

"Good morning!"

Cam looked up from his phone, in the middle of a text message he was sending to Maya, and saw a girl with high pigtails and glasses looking at him, a smile on her face.

"Uh… hi?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say hi." She said, waving her fingers at him and tilting her head to the side. She had a huge smile on her face, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. "Also, that I've seen you around school, with the girl who doesn't talk much."

"Maya." He responded flatly, "Yeah, she's my girlfriend. What about her?" He noticed how easily it was to say it, that Maya was his girlfriend. It felt really nice.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say hi." She sat down beside him and blinked her eyes repeatedly. "How rude of me!" She held her hand out. "My name is Imogen Moreno."

He took it, warily shaking it. "Hi Imogen… I'm Cam."

She giggled, "Oh, I know who you are silly!"

He gave her a look, "Okay…" He blinked for a minute, before standing up. "I really hate to be rude, but I have to go to practice-"

"Wait!" She jumped up suddenly, "I just… wanted to tell you that I think you're a nice guy and that Maya is really lucky to have someone like you in her life."

He smiled at that; he couldn't really help it. "Well, thanks."

She nodded, studying him for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you so nice to her, if you don't mind my asking. I mean I have no problem with it whatsoever, but what makes you so unlike any other guy?"

He took a moment to understand her question, before responding. "Guess I was just raised that way. I don't know. It just comes naturally you know, be nice to a girl. Not a total douche." He put one hand in the back pocket of his jeans and leaned back a little, looking up at her through his hair. "She's a really great girl and she deserves to be treated well. It's as simple as that."

Imogen smiled, "You're like the Dan Humphrey of Degrassi!"

He blinked, "Who?"

"And Maya's like your Serena!"

"Again, who?"

She waved him off, "Nevermind." And then suddenly she squealed and hugged him, catching him so off guard he stumbled backwards a bit. She then pulled away and smiled, " Well, I have to go meet my girlfriend. It was nice talking to you."

She began to walk away and he nodded, "Yeah, you too." He responded somewhat distractedly. His rubbed the back of his head as he watched her walk down the hall a moment before his phone went off. He lifted it up and saw a text from Maya.

_Almost there. Sorry! KC is running late._

**No problem. Take all the time you need.**

He walked down the hall the same way Imogen had gone, thinking over the last few minutes. It was definitely very interesting, that was for sure.

But still, he couldn't keep the smile off his face as he walked to practice.

Imogen was definitely very different and quirky, but she definitely had a point.

He was a good guy, and he couldn't be more proud of himself.

* * *

Maya breathlessly ran into the foyer of the school, checking the time on her watch. Looking around, she realized no one was in the halls which meant she was really late. KC came in after her and bumped into her, causing the books she was holding to fall down.

"Oh shit, Maya! I'm so sorry."

She rolled her eyes, '_It's O-K_'.

He helped her pick her books up and then walked down the hall to his class giving her a wave goodbye. She sighed and walked to her locker, opening it, she put her things in and then took out what she needed, before slamming it closed and walking down the hall. She was so into her thoughts, she hadn't realized she had bumped into someone.

She mouthed, _sorry_, and stepped back just as the person's turned around to face her. He had a hood on so she couldn't really see him. But he smirked at her, and she instantly felt uneasy.

"Don't you worry about it." He said, and she slowly nodded her head taking a step back, she walked passed him and was on her way to class when he stopped her again, by reaching out and touching her shoulder. He left his hand there a little too long and she turned looking at it and then back at him pointedly.

"I hope you don't blame yourself for running into me. I'm sure we'll have our fair share of run ins here anyway." She looked at him confused. "I'm new here." He said as a way of explanation.

She nodded. Something about him seemed _so damn familiar_, but she couldn't place it. What she could place however was how comfortable he was making her feel.

"Well, I'll let you get to class. See you around." She nodded and then did something she hadn't done since she was a child.

She bit her lip—hard, and turned around again. She was able to make it down the hall and to her class, before she released her lip and started to breathe heavily. She carelessly dropped her books on her desk, alerting her teacher and Tori and Zig who sat next to her, that there was something very wrong.

Her mind raced as she tried to figure out _who the hell _that could be. His voice was familiar, his body language, even something as simple as the way he smelled or the color of his skin seemed so familiar to her.

Blinking, and trying not to pass out, she tried to think of who it could be. But she couldn't. Looking up, she realized her teacher, Tori and Zig were trying to get her attention, but their voices were all blurred together. She shook her head, and then took a deep breath, their voices and faces all coming into focus again.

"Are you okay? Maya? Maya!" Tori was saying, but Maya just opened her mouth and nothing came out.

"I think she needs to sit down." Zig suggested and Tori agreed. He helped her sit down, and then signed, '_What's wrong Maya? Why do you look like you're going to puke?' _

She shook her head, and then took deep breaths. At that moment, she felt someone completely hug her from behind, their arms wrapped around her, which instead of comforting her, scared the shit out of her. She silently screamed and shot out of the chair so suddenly, it caused it to fall over and the person to be on the ground.

Her body was violently shaking at this point, and she realized she had knocked over Tristan. Embarrassed and feeling so guilty she started to cry.

"Okay, Tori, Zig, take her to the nurse's office. Tristan are you alright?" She could barely hear her teacher speaking.

Or Tristan's answer of his was totally fine and there was nothing to worry about, he was just concerned about Maya.

Tori tried to gently walk her out, but she shook her head. '_I'm O-K. I'm O-K_.' She signed, but Zig shook his head.

'_You need to go see the nurse okay? To calm down. There's something going on and until we figure it out and get you calm, you need to be there. Okay?'_

She nodded, and finally let them lead her there. Her mind was still racing over who she'd bumped into, unable to place who it was.

But as Tori and Zig tried speaking to her, it hit her in the middle of the hallway, _exactly _who it was.

But before she could react to it, she passed out.

* * *

"_I like you, you know."_

_Maya nodded, "Yeah, I like you too. We're friends. Aren't friends supposed to like each other?" _

_He stared at her, "No, I mean I really like you. Like more than friends." _

_She realized what he was saying and instantly felt terrible for the news she was about to break. _

"_Look, I'm flattered you feel that way, but I don't feel the same. I'm-I'm sorry. I hope we can still be friends." _

_He gave her a small smile, "Yeah, that's—that's okay." He sighed, and looked down at his shoes. It just took a lot of effort for me to say that, and I was scared you'd reject me-which you did-and now I just feel like shit." _

_Maya instantly felt uncomfortable, as though he was trying to guilt her into liking him. But at the same time, she felt bad, she had just rejected him after all. _

"_I'm sorry." She repeated at a loss at what else she could say. "But still, I hope we can be friends." _

_He nodded, "Guess it's better than nothing." _

_She smiled at him and hugged him. "Well see you around." _

_But in truth, it was the last time she did. After she started to get more popular and hang out with the popular crowd, she acted as though he didn't exist to her anymore. _

_The promise she made to still be his friend was broken. _

_And to him, he felt she deserved what she was getting. _

_So a few weeks later, he found his dad's gun in the basement and took it upstairs to his room. _

_Maya Matlin was going to pay, and he would stop and nothing to make sure she did. _

* * *

Gasping, she sat up and looked around. She wasn't in the nurse's office anymore, instead she was in her bedroom, which was odd since she didn't remember going from school to home. Or if she did, it was barely a memory. She looked at the clock next to her on her bed. **5:42pm**_**. **_Had she really been out that long?

Running her fingers through her hair, she felt for her hearing aids, thankful that they were still in, and then searched the bed for her bright pink cased iPhone, relieved that she'd found it a few minutes later.

Pressing the home screen she saw that she had many missed messages.

4 from Cam, telling her to text him the second she woke up, that she was okay, and apologizing for not being there since he head to be at a mandatory practice that afternoon since there was a big game coming up. And then a few more from Tristan, Zig, Jenna, and Tori hoping she was okay.

After reading them all, she opened the last one. And that one alone, made her blood go cold, and her stomach lurch.

**Unknown number:** I'm closer to you than you think Maya Matlin. You are going to get what you deserve. What happened a year ago doesn't count, not even close, so you better watch your back.

Tears filled her eyes, and she immediately grabbed the phone. Running down the hall, she went into KC's room without knocking. Usually he hated that (and she did too) but she felt this time there was a good enough reason.

"Maya?" KC looked up from the book he was reading, immediately taking notice to her tear stained cheeks. "What happened? Did Cam do something wrong? Are you okay? You should be resting. Why aren't you in bed? What's going on?"

He shot question after question at her and she just bit her lip again. Like she did earlier. He went over to her and grabbed the lower part of her jaw, rubbing it so she'd stop. She loosened her lip and then immediately pushed the phone in front of his face. He looked at her moment, before taking the phone from her and reading the message.

"Who sent this to you?"

'_I don't know! I woke up and saw this. I don't know who it is.' _ She looked down, the tears still falling, but he lifted her chin.

"Do you remember anything that happened earlier?"

She shook her head.

"Well, you had an episode, and a panic attack." He explained, "But then you passed out. I took you home from the nurse's office since they had agreed you going home is what was best. You were somewhat awake, but you passed out again when we got back."

She nodded, okay that made a little bit of sense.

"Do you know what may have caused that?"

She thought for a moment. She couldn't remember all that much, except for going to school, and then bumping into someone and then that person spoke to her and—

Her eyes widened again, but instead of having what happened to her earlier happen again she started to wildly sign to KC. Since she was going so fast, he couldn't understand her. So he gave her a paper and a pen and she wrote it down.

And what he saw made his blood go cold.

_Jon! I saw Jon! KC he's at Degrassi._

"Are you sure?"

She nodded and immediately he went to his phone. She had left the room at the point, so she didn't know who it was he was calling. Leaning against the wall, she looked at the message again and realized that was probably who had sent her that text.

Numbly, she slowly walked to her room, and then, instead of sitting on her bed, she just closed the door and leaned against it. Sliding down until she hit the floor, she just stayed in that spot.

And she didn't move. Not for an hour. It was like she was catatonic; she was so still and so unresponsive.

The door tried to open, but she still didn't move. She faintly heard knocking and finally blinked out of the state of shock she was in, opening the door, she was immediately engulfed in a hug. It took a moment, but she registered it was Cam, as she had immediately felt comfort and relaxed against his body as he held her.

"I heard what happened." He said quietly. "KC called me." He said as a way of explanation. "I'm not going to leave until you're a hundred and ten percent okay, alright? Even if it takes days or weeks I won't leave your side."

She thought was pretty sweet of him, but what about practice? Hockey?

He seemed to read her mind, because he soon answered the question. "Hockey can wait. I'll explain to everyone what's going on, don't worry about it, okay?"

She numbly nodded and then hugged him back. After a few minutes, she fell against him again, her eyes closed, and felt like she was drifting off, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting her.

He carried her over to her bed, and gently lay her down, getting in the bed beside her, she turned towards him and lay her head on his shoulder. He wrapped one arm around her and held her as she just drifted off to sleep.

She felt safe again, and that was a little more reassuring that everything was going to be okay.

* * *

Cam heard a soft knock on the door and softly called for whoever it was to come in. KC stuck his head in, and Cam nodded for him to enter the room. Jenna came in after him, and they both softly closed the door.

"How is she doing?" Jenna softly asked.

Cam shrugged, "She seemed to be somewhat out of it when I got here, but she fell asleep almost instantly so I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

KC nodded, "The guy who killed her sister and harassed her that night is apparently at Degrassi. That's who she said she saw today. I called the detectives and police. They stopped by and I told them what happened and explained to them that Maya couldn't really speak to them at that moment, but they said they'd keep a look out and have security at school to protect her. They'll be here first thing in the morning to go over with her what's going to happen now."

Cam nodded. "Thanks for telling me that. It's good to know."

KC gave him a small smile, as he sat down at Maya's desk chair. "Well you are her boyfriend." He studied his stepsister for a minute. "I just feel like I'm not doing enough for her, you know? She had a pretty traumatic experience happen and though it went away for a while, it's back. I'm just afraid of what she's going to do now."

"I think with everyone on her side protecting her and everything, she should be fine." Jenna told him, putting her hands on his shoulders, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her chin on his right shoulder. "You're doing everything you can to protect her. You're a great brother."

Cam nodded, "Yeah, you are." He agreed. "You do everything you can to protect her," He repeated. "She's lucky to have you."

"I just hope it's enough. Though I feel like it isn't, I hope she feels safe no matter what. That's what's important to me, her safety and her happiness."

"Mine too." Cam whispered, looking at her, and watching as she shifted a bit. "All I want is for her to be safe and happy and not scared anymore."

"You're a good guy Cam." KC said. "She's lucky to have you too you know." Cam smiled at him and he smiled back.

It was silent for a few minutes, before Cam spoke. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"

"Shoot."

"Well, uhm a few weeks ago… I talked to Maya and uh, well. She told me you were the person to go to for this."

"Is everything okay?" KC asked and Cam nodded.

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just that, I live back home in a foster home with a mom and a sister. But before I came here, I found a letter from my biological mother to my foster mother about possibly seeing me as she was just being released from jail. I never told my foster mother that I read it, but I don't know. I feel like I have the right to see her if I want to, right? Or am I wrong?"

KC sighed, "Well, I think you as a person do, yes. But just know it's hard. I was in a similar position a few years ago. My mom had gotten released from jail and wanted to see me, but I refused at first. I lived in a group home then and I was pretty happy. I even tried to make it so she couldn't see me, but after a while I realized how wrong that was and just accepted her in my life again. She had made a lot of mistakes, but she had worked hard to get to where she is now and I had to respect that."

Cam nodded, "I can understand that." He looked down, "My mom was a drug addict." He said quietly, and KC nodded.

"Mine was too."

Cam looked at him surprised, "Really?"

"Yeah, but she got the help she needed, rehab, jail, whatever it was. If your mother wants you back in her life, it's probably because she knows she's made enough mistakes to get to where she is now and just wants to do right by you."

"I guess that's true, but how do I tell my foster mother that? She basically raised me and I'd feel terrible or like I'm cheating on her if I went back to live with my mother again or something."

KC shrugged, "Guess that's a choice you're going to have to make yourself."

Jenna nodded, "I agree." She said quietly. "I'm never going to have that chance, since my mother passed away, but there were times I resented her and I always think about the 'what if's'. If I hadn't yelled at her would she still be alive. If I had listened to her, would she still be alive. You know? You have that chance to make it right again. And so did KC. But it's all up to you. It's your life and your decision."

"I'll definitely have something to think about, but thanks. That really helps my decision."

"No problem." Jenna smiled at him.

"Well, we better go. We'll leave you alone, in case she wakes up or something." KC said, getting up, he walked over to the door. "Thanks again, Cam. For everything you've done for us since we got here."

"My pleasure." Cam said quietly. "I would do this all over again. She's a pretty special girl."

"She is." KC smiled and then opened the door. After another wave from Jenna, they were both out.

Cam closed his eyes for a moment, but then opened them again, staring up at the ceiling. He didn't know what he was going to do about his mother quite yet, but he still had his girlfriend to worry about right now, his mother could wait.

* * *

"_I know you want to kiss me."_

_Maya rolled her eyes. "I really don't." _

"_You sure about that?" _

_She leaned in close, "Positive." _

"_Right, right. You can only resist this for so long." _

"_You should really get your ego checked. I think it might be officially so huge, you can't recognize yourself." _

"_My ego isn't that big." _

_She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say." She hadn't realized his hand was moving up the side of her body, until it reached her chest. A shiver went down her spine, and she fought the urge moan. _

_He squeezed her arm, and the moved his hand towards her chest more. _

"_C-Cam what a-are you doing?" She stammered, but he didn't answer her. _

"_We haven't kissed yet." He reminded her. "Think it's time we change that?" _

"_Are you going to-to do something to me if I don't?" _

"_Maybe." He smirked at her and she realized the position she was and how compromising it looked. _

_Her hands were in his hair, her legs wrapped around his waist. How she'd gotten to that position, she wasn't sure, but the feeling's that were going through her body at that moment were to strong to pass up. _

"_Okay." She breathed. "Kiss me." _

* * *

Maya woke up, and let out a groan. Her dream seemed so realistic. It was like she and Cam were actually there.

Sighing, she realized that she'd just had a sensual dream and didn't really know what to think of it. Maybe it was the trauma of all that had happened that day, but she just wanted Cam. And wanted him _badly_.

She was still a teenager after all. Whether or not she could speak, hear, or sign, she was still a teenage girl. A teenage girl with needs.

So, her mind somewhat cloudy and unfocused, and thinking of the dream, she sat up and turned to her sleeping boyfriend. Looking at her clock a moment she noticed the time: **11:56pm**. Good everyone was asleep, so if they _did_ do anything, no one would be able to interrupt.

She lay back down again and turned her body so that she was half on him and looked up at him. She shook him and he immediately opened his eyes.

"Maya? What's wrong are you okay?"

She nodded, she grabbed her phone and then typed up a message before showing it to him.

_I had a dream. _

"Was it a bad dream?" He asked her and she shook her head, typing on her phone again.

_It was about us, but I could speak. And we were going to kiss and you were touching me and it felt really good and I liked it. _

She then hesitantly showed him the message to which, after he read it, his eyes widened.

"You had a sensual dream?"

She nodded.

"Wow… about me?" She nodded again. "Okay… well, that's certainly interesting."

She typed something on her phone again and then showed it to him.

_You were going to kiss me and I woke up. _

"That always happens, the best part of the dream and-" He stopped speaking a moment before looking at the position they were in, and her darkened blue eyes.

She touched her thumb to her fingers and then pushed her left hand against her right, the tips of her fingers touching, before she pulled the left hand away and the pointed to herself.

'_K-I-S-S M-E_.' She spelled a moment later in translation.

"You sure?"

Her mind went to the dream again and she moved her body so that she was straddling his. He sat up so his back was against the headboard, and put his hands on her waist. She moved slightly, and realized she had brushed his most sensitive part with hers.

"I don't think that was on purpose, right?" She shook her head, but did it again, he looked up at her, suppressing a groan, and she grinned.

'_T-H-A-T W-A-S_.'

"Yeah I figured." He responded, she then put her arms around his neck loosely, and he held her in place his hands still on her waist. Then thinking of her dream again, she leaned closer, and he met her halfway, their lips just an inch from each other's. "You sure you want this? I mean you had a really emotionally draining day and-"

He didn't get to finish. She had rolled her eyes, and shifted again so that this time he did groan, and then she gave him a quick peck on the lips that lasted about three seconds. She broke it and then looked at him, he looked back at her, his eyes going in between her lips and her eyes, and then he leaned in and _really _kissed her.

He captured her lips with his, and then bit down on her bottom lip which caused her to open her mouth slightly, which in turn allowed him to kiss her deeper and harder. She responded a moment later, just as passionately, and then broke it. She looked at him breathing heavily for a minute, before leaning in and kissing him again, though this time, she moved her hands so that they were in his hair, her legs wrapped around his waist—just like in her dream.

This time he broke the kiss and looked at her, breathing heavily. They both didn't make another move to do anything, so they just stared at each other.

After a few minutes, he spoke. "Amazing." He quietly said, and then kissed her again, but this time gently. But she didn't want that. She wasn't into being gentle anymore. She kissed him harder, to the point where she had his hands on her sides, and her hand started to travel lower and lower.

But that's where he stopped it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

That seemed to smack her into reality, because she gasped and immediately got off of him. She stood up and then started to pace back and forth, her hands going in her hair as she realized what she'd done.

'_Sorry, sorry. I'm so sorry_.' She signed realizing she hadn't been in her right mind, and probably looked desperate. The memory of her and Alex flooded her mind and she started to freak out. Now she knew Cam wouldn't want to be with her anymore, since she was so easy. Now he knew it, and now he was going to dump her.

"Maya, Maya. Calm down okay?" He went over to her and hugged her. "I understand that you got a little into it, and I'm not saying I hated it at all. I just wanted to slow it down because you're going through something right now and I don't want you to take advantage of your vulnerability by doing something you may regret later on. I also didn't want to take advantage of you like this, which is why I stopped it. I'm sorry if it came off rude okay? But I did it to protect you."

She sighed in relief when she heard he wasn't upset with her and wasn't going to dump her. If anything she felt a load of respect for him now that he did that.

'_Thank you_'. She signed and he smiled. He leaned in and gently kissed her.

"Come on, you want to go to sleep?"

She shook her head. She went to her bed and grabbed her phone. She typed something on it, and then sent the message. He heard his phone go off and he looked at her as she just smirked back at him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and then read the message.

_I want to make out some more. _

He smiled at her and she smiled back. He went over to her, his hands going to her waist, he leaned in and gave her a kiss that started out slow, but soon built up as they got more and more into it.

Maya smiled into it, once she saw his, and felt happy again. Sure they had kissed before for the wrong reasons, but now that she was thinking clearly and in her right mind, she was happy that it had _finally _happened.

She had been sure all that tension was going to kill them someday.

* * *

The next day, after Cam had kissed her goodbye, she felt her hand being tugged, and turned to see Tori in front of her house.

"Before you ask, I just came by to see if you were okay. Since when do you and Cam make out?"

Maya held her hand up and took her phone out. She typed something on it, before showing it to Tori.

_Last night. We made out, and it was amazing. I didn't get much sleep though and neither did he, so I told him to go home so he could rest. _

"You guys can't keep your hands off each other can you?"

Maya shook her head.

_I tried to keep it innocent. But I can't do that anymore. He's just so… you know? _

Tori laughed, "It's normal Maya, don't worry. But uh question, are you uhm… you know…" She gestured with her hands and Maya made a face.

_A virgin? _

Tori nodded.

_No._

That seemed to surprise her. But since Tori didn't know the whole story, she didn't say anything more.

"Oh my god! You just seem so innocent, you know? No offense."

_None taken. _

Tori smiled at her, "it's good thing trust me. Now, we are going to go upstairs to your room and you are going to tell me all about what an amazing kisser your super hot boyfriend is while I give you a make over. Sound good?"

Maya smiled and nodded. It was always good to have some girl time.

"Good. And if you're lucky I'll tell you all about Zig."

_I would love that. _

Tori giggled, and led the way to the front door. Maya was just about to follow her when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She held her hand up, and then read the message.

**Unknown number: **Tell anyone I'm here and you and you're pretty boy boyfriend are going to get it. Good luck, slut.

Instead of showing she was upset by it, she just looked up at Tori and smiled.

"You coming?" Tori asked, and she took a deep breath. Nodding her head, she followed Tori into the house.

She was pretty sure it could wait until later. At least to her, in that moment, the threatening texts meant absolutely nothing to her. So she ignored them.

And once she got to her room she just turned her phone off, and giggled with Tori over how adorkable their boyfriends were.

It was time to be as normal a teenage girl she could be. Nothing was going to stop her.

* * *

**Also note: italics are Maya's flashbacks/dreams unless indicated she's texting or writing something down to talk to another character.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yes, it's been forever and a day. I've realized that. Enjoy this chapter... it's one of my favorites. All Maya and Cam awesomeness with a little bit of drama thrown in. **

**What. What. **

**I own nothing. **

* * *

She could see him, from the corner of her eye. He knew she could, he knew she knew he was there. Staring at her, just waiting for the perfect moment to make his move.

So instead of letting it get to her, she bit her lip, smirking, she looked down at her phone.

**I'm here. **

The message couldn't have been made clearer. She waited until she could see him and then went over to her boyfriend. She immediately went over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She didn't even give him a chance before she kissed him, biting his lower lip, she pulled away and smiled.

'_I missed you_.' She signed as a way of telling him that was why she'd basically just bull rushed him.

He smiled at her and leaned in, giving her a soft kiss. She opened her eyes, mid kiss and looked to the side to see Jon was still there, and he looked _pissed off_.

Well good, he deserved it.

She then closed her eyes and kissed him back, before the bell rang and they were both forced to break it.

"Good morning to you too, Maya." He smiled at her and she bit her lip.

'_Thank you_.'

He nodded and then taking her hand in his, they walked into class together. She looked behind her to see Jon talking to someone and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he wasn't going to bother her for that day.

That weekend, the police and detectives came to her house early in the morning and told her what was going on. They were going to be around the area, and would stay there, until the detectives could catch him doing anything. She had Cam, KC, Eli, Drew, basically all the grade 12's, as well as grade 11's and police around her everyday while she was at school.

There was no way she couldn't feel safe, right?

* * *

"Okay, so… the talent show is well, still two months away, but—" Zig started to say, but Maya held her hand up. "Yes, Maya?"

'_I just wanted to say I'm very excited._' She signed and he smiled at her, shaking his head as she continued. '_Sorry for interrupting. Proceed.' _

"Thank you." He laughed and she just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I think we should practice."

"Agreed." Eli responded, as Maya looked over his shoulder. He turned around and saw Jake, who rushed in.

"Sorry I'm late."

"No worries, you're fine. Just wondering, why are you late?" Eli answered.

"I uh… had an issue by my locker that needed taking care of." He vaguely responded, but Maya was really the only one who picked up on it. As if he was reading her mind, he looked at her and motioned for her to go with him. "I actually need to speak to Maya privately and KC. So, can you both come with me for a moment?"

Maya looked at her stepbrother who just nodded back. She then nodded and stood up, handing her guitar to Cam, who took her hand and gave her a soft smile.

"Just remember, you're safe now." He whispered and she nodded again. Then he let go of her and watched her walk out of the room.

"What's going on?" KC asked as soon as the door was slammed shut.

"I lied. I wasn't really by my locker." Jake responded and Maya fought the strong urge to roll her eyes.

"Then where were you?"

"Talking to someone who's very familiar… to the three of us. Well, to mostly Maya and I."

'_J-O-N?' _Maya signed and KC translated.

"Yeah."

"She knows he's here, he threatened her via text message last week." KC said, "We've got the police and detectives in on it."

"Good, good." Jake nodded, "But see the problem is mostly with me, not just Maya."

Maya looked at him. '_What do you mean?_' She signed, KC translating.

"I killed his brother, remember?" She slowly nodded. "So I'd say he's pretty pissed at me for that."

Maya started to shake her head and sign so fast, KC was unable to translate for her. She bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes and tried to calm down. Then, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and typed on it before showing it to Jake.

_You did that in self-defense! He killed my sister! How can he be pissed off at you over something he caused? _

"My thoughts exactly." Jake responded. "I have no idea what his problem is, but he's up to something."

"Of course he is, he's going after my sister over something that wasn't even her or your fault!" KC angrily hit the locker next to him and Maya jumped, backing away as the noise startled her. "Sorry, Maya. I didn't mean to scare you." She nodded and he knew from that simple gesture that she understood.

"We didn't get into much a fight or anything since a teacher walked by and we stopped, but he did say something to me." Jake spoke a few moments later.

Maya motioned for him to continue.

"He told me to watch my back. And to be afraid, very, very afraid." He didn't want to add that he also told him to tell Maya the same thing. He just didn't want her to be more afraid than she already was, regardless if he was the one in danger now or not. "I just don't understand how he figured out where we are now."

"Yeah…" KC sighed, "I wish I knew that myself."

Maya didn't sign or anything more. She just wanted to get out of that suffocating hallway, as weird as that seemed. She walked passed them and into the music room. When the two boys followed after her, she signed to KC that she just wanted to practice and focus on the show.

She didn't want any more distractions. She honestly couldn't take them anymore.

* * *

"Good practice, Cam." Dallas smiled at him, patting him on the back. "Whatever it is you're doing, kept it up."

Cam smiled and nodded, "Will do, Dallas, will do."

"Great, that's what I like to hear. He picked up his towel and started to walk away. "I'm gonna go hit the showers for a second, alright?"

"Do your thing, I'll see you later." Cam nodded and went back to getting dressed, when he heard a noise, coming from the doorway that led to the rink. He then heard two people talking and walked closer to see whom it could've been as the whole team had gone home and Dallas was already in the shower.

"I can't believe that fucking ass man. Why the fuck would he not listen to you when you told him what was up? Is he that much of an idiot?" He heard Luke's familiar condescending, and what he and Maya were convinced of, naturally douchy voice.

"It's obvious that girl doesn't think her sister dying and getting permanently deaf is enough. She doesn't know what's coming to her either. That bitch was supposed to die that day, but whatever that lumberjack's name is saved her. He killed my brother and now they both have to pay."

Cam tried to see them, by hiding discreetly behind the wall, but found it was a bit difficult, so he took a chance. He looked out to see the discomfort on Luke's face, but he just shook his head and smiled.

"Trust me, man. They'll get it." He responded. "I didn't tell you to come all this way for nothing did I?"

Cam then flew backwards, and leaned his back hard against the wall, as his heart pounded hard in his chest. So _Luke_ was behind all of this. He knew exactly who Maya and Jake were and was apparently a good friend of Jon's as he was the one who'd tipped him off to the fact that they both were at Degrassi.

"Don't worry." He heard who now assumed was Jon speak. "It won't be for nothing. That's a promise."

He couldn't hear anymore. He refused to. And he was about to walk away, when he heard his name.

"Cam is such an idiot. Falling for a girl like her. He can barely even understand her, how the hell is he with her? She's just a puck bunny. That's all she'll ever be." Luke said and soon afterward, Jon just started to laugh.

"Because he's a dumbshit, what other reason is there? I'll tell you something, she was a total slut before. Tried to get with any guy she could and acted like she was hot shit and all."

"But you liked her, right?"

"Yeah, but now I realized how dumb I was. She's a slut and that's all she'll ever be."

He was about to go out there and pound Jon, but thought better of it. He looked up and saw Dallas had just walked back into the change room, so instead, he got up and numbly walked back in there. He softly scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, you okay?" Dallas asked him and he looked up as if he'd forgotten where he was.

"Yeah, fine." He said, "I uh… just left something in the rink, and went to go get it." He said, motioning with his hand that he had been planning to go back there, "but uh at the last minute I remembered I left it at home." He took a deep breath, before continuing. "Anyway, I promised Maya I'd go to her house after practice today, so I'll see you later?"

Dallas nodded, and Cam let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He quickly turned around when Dallas spoke, nearly giving him a heart attack.

"You sure you're okay?"

He wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell him _everything_, but he knew he couldn't. So he just turned around and gave him the best fake smile he could.

"Totally fine." He assured him and Dallas shrugged.

"Okay…" He said looking at him as though he really didn't believe him. "If you're sure."

"I'm very sure." Cam responded. "Anyway, I gotta go…"

"I'm here to talk." Dallas spoke again, just as he had started to walk away. "Whenever you want, whatever you want. You can tell me anything, okay?"

Cam nodded again, he managed a small smile. "Thanks, that means a lot."

"No problem. Now go. I don't think you want to make your girl wait for you."

Cam laughed, "She's pretty patient you know."

Dallas waved him off. "Just go, have a fun time with her tonight."

"I'll try."

* * *

"Cam!" Jenna opened the door, smiling warmly at him as she did. "I see you just got here from practice, how are you?"

"I'm alright. How are you?" He asked, somewhat distractedly as he walked inside and looked around. "Hey have you seen Maya?" He asked her, not bothering to wait for an answer from her. "I really need to see her."

"Yeah…" Jenna blinked, confused. "She's upstairs in her room."

"Cool, thanks." Cam answered and then quickly ran up the stairs and into her room, where he found her doing some homework. She looked up once she saw his feet, and tilted her head. "I have something I need to tell…" He trailed off, "KC," He finally said, realizing he couldn't tell her anything _just _yet. "But I wanted to come see you first."

She smiled, and patted the spot next to her. He took a seat and looked at her, she leaned in and gently kissed him, then broke it and tilted her head again.

'_Are you okay_?' She signed and he nodded, licking his bottom lip nervously.

"Yeah, totally fine." He gave her a reassuring smile, then kissed her so she wouldn't feel like something was up. "But I have to go talk to KC, so can I…?"

She nodded, '_He's downstairs I think… with Jenna_.'

'OK', he signed back. "I'll be right back." He said and she nodded, going back to doing her homework. He went downstairs again to find KC with Jenna, laughing about something they were watching on TV. He turned his head and paused the show, looking at him.

"What's up, Cam?"

Cam took a deep breath and stepped further into the room. "Dude, there's something I have to tell you and I'm really not sure if I should tell Maya just yet, but I think telling you is a good alternative, so… can I tell you?"

Jenna raised her eyebrow and exchanged a look with KC, who just nodded a moment later, "Sure."

Cam took a seat on the coffee table across from them and put his hands together, "I was in the locker room, after practice and I heard who I assume is Jon and Luke talking. They were talking shit about Maya, but to make a long story short, Luke was the one who tipped him off that Maya's here."

KC straightened up and looked at Jenna a moment before looking back at Cam again, "Are you sure?"

Cam nodded, "Yeah, he wants… he wants to do something to her, what I'm not sure, but he said that she and Jake are going to have to pay. Jon thinks Maya was supposed to die that day and he's going to do whatever it takes to do it. Luke's going to help him."

Jenna gasped, and KC clenched his jaw. "That fucking crazy—" He stopped speaking and closed his eyes. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to warn Jake of course," Cam said, "But… I don't know about Maya."

KC sighed, "I'll tell her."

"I'll be with you when you do." Cam spoke firmly and KC nodded, accepting it. It was quiet for a few minutes before Jenna spoke up.

"So what's going to happen now?"

KC shared a look with Cam, before responding. "We have no choice but to wait…" He looked back at her, and Cam rubbed his head, before turning around.

"I'm going to go upstairs, be with Maya for a while."

KC nodded, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." His words were cold, but he still had a smile on his face.

"Trust me, bro. I won't." Cam gave him a small smile and a nod, and then went back upstairs to find Maya had abandoned her homework and was laying on her side. She looked to be asleep, so took off his shoes, and then gently lay down beside her. He softly put his hand on her shoulder, which was when she moved, turning over to face him, much to his surprise. She curled against him, and took his hand in hers, holding it tightly.

He put his chin on top of her head and closed his eyes, laying there and relaxing until they both fell asleep.

* * *

Maya slowly opened her eyes, looking up she saw Cam was still asleep, and pulled a little bit away, before rubbing her eyes and looking at him again. She bit her lip and then shook him, waking him up. She rubbed his eyes before looking at her.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded and then shyly bit her lip, sitting up she reached over and put her hand on his cheek, her fingers spread apart, as she leaned in and softly kissed him. He kissed her back, and then she broke it, getting on top of him, she straddled his waist, putting his hands on hers, she put both of hers on either side of him, so that she was an inch from his face.

He looked up at her, amused. "Hey there, Maya."

She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"What's up?" She narrowed her eyes at him, before she moved her body up a bit and pointedly looked down. "I didn't mean that…"

She laughed, falling against him, her cheek on his shoulder as she put her hands on his neck, hugging him but not really hugging him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she continued to laugh, him laughing with her, though he didn't really understand what was so funny.

Then she pulled away and put both her hands on his cheeks, smiling at him as he just looked up at her.

"Say something." He whispered, "Say anything. You can do it, I know you can."

She nodded, '_I'm scared_'. She signed, but realized he already more or less knew what she sounded like, so she shouldn't have anything to worry about.

"It's okay." He spoke quietly and she nodded.

"I…really like…you."

He smiled, "I really like you too."

"I mean…I…" She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "I…don't…want…to…lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

She nodded and then started signing again, '_It hurts to speak sometimes." _He nodded understanding, she had a few speech therapy sessions already but knew it would be a while until she would be able to really feel comfortable with it.

"That was a good though." He smiled on his hands going to her hair, he tucked a strand behind her ear. "I'm really proud of you."

She felt a new emotion and leaned in, kissing him hard and sensually, before pulling away and resting her forehead against his, she closed her eyes, before feeling his lips on hers again, only this time it was deeper, leaving her breathless by the time it was over.

She shook her head and he innocently looked at her. Rolling her eyes, she leaned in and kissed him harder and deeper, grinding her lower body against his, he groaned into her mouth and then put his hands on her sides, squeezing them as he moved lower, her hands going to her thighs. She broke the kiss and tilted her head back as he sat up and started to kiss her neck, she felt him against her, before he stopped kissing her neck and went back to her neck, giving her another breathless kiss.

He really couldn't believe this was happening. Maya so willingly letting him do whatever he wanted while he just kissed and touched her. He knew enough to not take it too far or do anything she was uncomfortable with. He wasn't a jerk.

She moved her head back and then kissed him again, her hands on his neck this time, she held him in place as she kissed harder and deeper, once again moving her body against his.

He groaned into her mouth and she bit down on his lip, causing him to put his hands on her ass and push her against him.

After another minute of the intense kissing, they broke apart, breathing heavily, they leaned their foreheads against each other's, and tried to silently catch their breaths.

"Amazing." Cam whispered and Maya nodded, knowing that he knew she was agreeing. After a few more minutes, she fell to the side, and looked up at him as he turned himself so that he was facing her, still trying to catch his breath. He couldn't help but think how adorable she looked, looking up at him, her blue eyes dark, her hair fanned out underneath her. He put his hand on her cheek and softly rubbed it looking right at her. "You're so beautiful." He said, and she leaned into his hand, closing her eyes, he saw a smile on her face.

"Thank you." She whispered, and he smiled at her, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead.

He wanted her, he wanted her _so badly_, but knew that he couldn't have her just yet. They were taking things slow, and though it was sometimes agonizing he'd do it. He didn't want to fuck this relationship up as soon as it had just begun.

She was too amazing to let go of. Though his feelings were strong and he knew what he felt, he wasn't going to tell her them just yet. Not until they were _both _ready for it.

Maya reached behind her then and grabbed her phone. She typed something on it, and then turned it off. He grabbed his phone from beside him and looked at it.

_That was so amazing. Can we do it again? _

He looked at her, an eyebrow going up. "Now?"

She slyly smiled and nodded, reaching up to put her hand on his neck, she pulled him closer, kissing him as he positioned himself on top of her and kissed her back.

She sure was a wild one, and _that_ he figured out that night. He was always learning new things about her, but that, he most definitely wasn't expecting.

* * *

Maya watched her hand swing with Cam's between them, giggling as they entered the music room after school. It had been about two days since they had their heavy make out sessions and literally, since then, tried to find any opportunities they could do it again. Though they had a small one just a few minutes before, they knew they had to end it and get to practice for the talent show.

But once they got in there, she looked up, her giggling stopping as she saw everyone dancing around, laughing and having a good time.

"What's going on?" Cam asked, and Zig turned down the music. He smiled at them and waved them over.

"Come on guys! It's a dance party!"

Though Maya—with her hearing aids on—could hear the music, what she focused on more was the beat of it. She dropped her backpack by her feet, and took Cam's doing the same with his. Then she took his hands and pulled him with her, dancing and moving around, laughing as he tried to keep up with her. She turned around then and waved her hands in the air, Clare doing the same with her, they leaned in towards each other and then backed away, laughing and enjoying it.

The song then switched, and Maya recognized it. Waving her hands in the air, Zig stopped the music and looked at her.

'_Everyone sit, I want to show you a dance I did when I was younger to this song. My sister and I made it up together_.' She signed and Zig translated, everyone nodded and did as she asked them. She nodded at Zig and he pressed play, the song beginning she closed her eyes and once the lyrics started, she moved around at a fast, difficult pace, doing moves everyone else didn't even know existed. Then she pulled Cam up with her and started to move against him, waving everyone to join her and they did, the music taking over the room, reminding everyone that even though they were going through hard times, it was still fun to let loose and have a good time.

"Wow, Maya." Clare tried to catch her breath, when the song ended. "That was amazing. How did you learn to dance like that?"

She shrugged, '_I've been dancing my whole life. That was actually the first time I've danced since… well in a while.' _

"You're still really good." Jenna told her, coming up to her, she gave her a smile. "I've been dancing for a while too, but what you just did, whoo! I couldn't even _try_ to attempt it."

She smiled, '_I could teach you_.'

"That'd be awesome." Jenna said and Clare laughed.

"Alright now that we've had our fun, we should get back to practicing." Zig suggested and everyone nodded in agreement.

Maya took her place and smiled at Cam, taking his hand in hers, she squeezed it, and then let it go.

That was one of the most fun times she'd had in years. And she was happy she got to spend it with the people who she'd grown to love.

Jenna started to sing then and she snapped back to watching what everyone did, so that she could help them if she needed them to. Looking to her left, she saw Cam wink at her and smile. She just smiled herself and rolled her eyes, focusing on what was going on in front of her.

She'd have fun with Cam later.

* * *

"Nice practice guys!" Dallas called, as the team excitedly entered the locker room. "Let's have that effort tomorrow as well! Now hit the showers."

Cam was by his bag, looking at his phone and reading the messages Maya sent him, when he heard Luke and looked up to see he was wrestling with Owen. Cam didn't have much of a problem with him during the practice since they were hardly near each other, but now that they were done and they were all changing, he realized he _did_, in fact have a problem with him and felt the anger build up.

He put his phone down and abruptly pushed him off Owen. Luke looked at him surprised, "What the hell?" He shouted at him, but Cam didn't back down.

"You deserve that." He snapped back, and then got in his face, "You deserve more than that, you fucking ass!"

"Whoa!" Owen looked in between them, his hands stretched, "What is going on? Cam? Why are you so pissed at him?"

"Tell them." Cam demanded, and Luke looked confused. "I know what you're doing, I overheard you the other day." Luke's face then turned into one of pride it looked like, but Cam couldn't really tell. "How the fuck could you do that to an innocent girl?" He tried to get him again, but Owen held him back.

"Dude, relax. Calm down okay? Then you can tell me what the hell's going on, because I am so confused."

"What's going on is I'm going to kick Luke's ass!" Cam yelled fighting against him, but Owen held him back.

"What the—Cam, are you okay?" Dallas asked rushing to them, he looked in between his teammates. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to figure that out." Owen said, releasing Cam, who just wiped his mouth and tried to calm down.

"Okay, dude. Rookie here just attacked me for no reason." Luke said, "I didn't do anything."

"Don't call me that!" Cam snapped, and then looked at Dallas. "I'll tell you what's going on. Luke is trying to hurt my girlfriend."

"What?" Owen scoffed, "That's insane. Why would he do that?"

"I overheard him. You know how I've been telling you Maya's afraid now because the guy who killed her sister is at Degrassi?" Owen nodded, "Well, Luke's friends with him and told him where she'd be. That's how he got here and that's why she's so fucking scared all the time."

"Doesn't look like it to me." Luke rolled his eyes letting out a laugh. "You two are always making out, how the hell is she supposed to feel scared?"

"Just admit to what you did! You're planning to kill her! I know you are, I overheard you!" And then he punched Luke straight in the nose, causing him to fall back and for Dallas and Owen to pull him back before he did anything more. "I'd fight you, but you're not worth the time." Cam snapped, pulling himself away from Dallas and Luke, he just looked back at them and then grabbed his stuff, storming out of the locker room, the door slamming behind him.

* * *

Maya was in the library with Tori and Tristan doing her homework, when Tori nudged her, causing her to look up at her, and for Tori to point at the entrance to the library. She saw Cam walk in, his bag over his shoulder, he was looking around, and then wiped his mouth, when he spotted her and started to walk towards her. As he walked closer, she noticed he looked pissed off and stressed out.

'_What's wrong?'_ She quickly signed and he shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." He told her, but she frowned, realizing that there was something really bothering him. She looked behind her at Tori and Tristan who nodded and got up, taking their things with them.

"We'll see you later," Tristan said as Tori waved.

"Text me later!" She said and then they were both gone. Maya sat on the table as Cam angrily threw his bag to the ground and sat in a chair. She gently put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him as he just stared straight ahead a moment before looking up at her. Her hand on his shoulder immediately calmed him down, and he took her hand in his, pulling her onto his lap, she sat on him, her arms going around his neck.

He gently kissed her and then hugged her close.

There was something off with him, she could see it, but could also see that he didn't want to talk about it. So she just hugged him back, resting her chin on his shoulder, they stayed like that until the librarian kicked them out a couple hours later.

Then he slowly got up and taking her hand in his (after grabbing their stuff), they silently walked out the door and into the cold Toronto weather. He stopped suddenly and she turned around confused. He just smirked at her and wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around, until she started to laugh and then gently put her down on the ground again, kissing her almost immediately.

She kissed back, happy that even though he seemed distressed earlier, he was doing a little better. She opened her eyes as they continued to kiss and out of the corner of her eye, saw a movement. She ripped her lips from his and looked again, only for what she'd just seen to have disappeared almost instantly.

"Maya? You okay?" Cam's voice broke her from her thoughts and she looked at him. Nodding her head, she just pulled him towards her and kissed him again.

She was getting really good at ignoring issues and putting them off until later.

* * *

**I'm deciding if I should make this an M story or not.. I mean, Cam's issues are starting to show as well. Though I feel like he was just being nice this time. The next time he'd probably get more aggressive and do more with Maya, if she'd let him. You know? Up to you. Should I keep it at this rating or change it? Let me know. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning you, this chapter's pretty intense. Also, a few hints about Maya here about herself in general and her past.**

**The rating will probably most likely change. Thanks for all the reviews and input! **

**Enjoy. I own nothing, but the idea. **

* * *

Maya stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her dress as she smoothed it over her body, staring at her reflection. She played with the end of her hair, and closed her eyes.

* * *

"_Maya! You're here! Awesome!" Katie reached out, and grabbed her hand. "We've been waiting for you all day."_

_Maya looked at her confused, "You've been waiting for me?" _

_Katie nodded, leading her into a building and then into another room, where they soon ended up in a dance studio. She stumbled walking in, and looked around. She saw her sister's friends dancing, and jamming to the music that was playing. _

"_Guys!" Katie yelled, "She's here." They all stopped and looked at her. She held her hand up, "This is my sister, Maya." _

"_Hey girl." A girl walked up to her, "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Anna." _

_A guy with dark hair walked up to her then, "I'm Zach." _

_She nodded and shook both their hands as other people introduced themselves to her. _

"_So you're in grade seven?" Anna asked, and she nodded. _

"_Yeah… I go to a performing arts school though." Maya took off her jacket, and then stretched her legs. Anna watched in amazement. "I've been dancing since I was two. Ballet, then hiphop." _

"_Oh." Anna smirked, "So then you really know what you're doing as opposed to us." She gestured to everyone else who were giving her looks behind her. "Though, Katie's pretty good." _

_Maya nodded and turned to her sister who was doing some dance moves in front of the mirror. She turned back to Anna, "I think every girl takes a ballet class at one point or another." _

_Anna nodded, agreeing. She then went back to stretching and Maya walked over to Katie. She then mimicked her actions perfectly and Katie glared at her while Maya giggled. _

"_Come on, Katie. Have some fun." She whispered, she leaned in closer. "I have an idea." She turned to everyone and then went to her bag, getting a CD out, she walked to the CD player and popped it in. Then she played a song and Katie rolled her eyes a smile on her face. "I know you remember this one." _

_Katie nodded and then they both started to dance simultaneously. All the way until the song ended. They clapped to the beat together towards the end, and then bumped their sides together, laughing and continuing the dance, nearly flawlessly. _

"_Holy shit." Anna said, "Where did—how did—you guys are just amazing." _

_Maya smiled, putting a strand of hair behind her ear and breathing heavily. "Thanks." She looked at Katie who smiled back at her. "We're amazing, aren't we?" _

_Katie nodded, "We sure are baby sis." And with that she threw her arm around her and hugged her close. "We sure are." _

* * *

She opened her eyes and gasped, looking again at her reflection, almost as if she was realizing where she was.

She wasn't with Katie in the dance studio anymore. She was back in Toronto. Reaching up, she touched her ears and felt the hearing aids in her ears. Tears filled her eyes as it all set in and she ripped them out, throwing them across the room on her bed, she ripped off her dress and then angrily walked to her closet. Grabbing a pair of leggings and an off the shoulder sweater, she put it on, and then just stormed out of her room.

She left everything behind, not caring too much about it. She just wanted to get the hell out of the house.

Her tears blinding her, she kept going and going until she stopped a few blocks down, and looked inside a building into what looked to be an abandoned dance studio. Wiping her tears away, she opened the dusty door, and stepped inside, the darkness creeping her out.

Forcefully pushing her hair into a ponytail, she walked inside and found a switch. It turned on a dim light and she looked around, to see that while it wasn't the same one she'd been in with Katie, it was still a dance studio.

She remembered the song perfectly and positioned herself in front of the mirror. She then started to dance, ignoring her tears and ignoring the fear she felt with being all alone. She moved like she'd never stopped dancing, stopping when she ran out of breath, and was on the her knees on the ground. She stared at the ground again, another memory coming to her mind.

* * *

"_You want to be the best dancer right?" Katie asked her as they walked down the street together._

"_Of course." Maya answered. "Dancing is my life." _

She slowly got up, and stared angrily at herself in the mirror again.

"_Show me what you got." Katie stopped suddenly, turning towards her. "Show me that you can do this." _

"_No." Maya snapped, "I know I can do this." _

"_Then do it." Katie got in her face, "Show me what you've got, Maya. Right here, in the middle of town, in front of everyone." _

_Maya looked surprised by that for about a split second, before she narrowed her eyes, and pressed a button on her phone, handing it to Katie, before she stepped away from her again. _

* * *

She wanted to scream, wanted to hit or throw something, wanted to let out all her emotions, but she knew she couldn't. Not since the incident. She had trouble speaking and hearing and she hated it. Hated it to death.

Her breathing became more and more labored as she stared at herself, almost creepily, her bangs covering her eyes, as she slowly lifted her head up. She gripped the rail in front of her, and rocked back and forth for a moment.

* * *

_Maya started to dance, doing moves that not even Katie thought were possible. She then ran forward and did a cartwheel without using her hands, and landed in the splits. Katie clapped her hands and so did a few other people who stopped to watch her._

_She gave her sister a knowing smile, and picked her bag up off the floor. "You were saying?" _

_Katie just shook her head, "That you're a great dancer and you're going to kick ass at the audition. And I'll be there, in the front row, cheering you on. I'm so proud of you." _

_Maya smiled, "Yay. I'm so excited." She hugged her sister close. "Thanks for supporting me." _

_Katie hugged her back, "Well, that's what sisters are for." _

* * *

Maya started to rock back and forth, closing her eyes. She felt the tears come to her eyes, and the anger build up.

_Don't cry, don't cry. Stop crying. _She thought over and over, but it wasn't working. Nothing was working. Nothing was going to help her right now.

That audition never happened.

She never got to see her sister, in the front row, clapping for her and telling her once again how she was proud of her.

Instead, they had gone to the club where Maya had performed with the band, had gotten raped and then her sister was murdered.

All of Maya's dreams came crumbling down the moment all of that had happened, the dreams for dancing, the dreams for music, performing, everything ended the day her sister—her biggest supporter, next to KC of course—had died.

She then felt her arm voluntarily raise up, and before she knew it, she had opened her eyes, and saw her hand was bloody, shards of glass stuck in her wrist which was were she saw the cut was. How she wasn't exactly sure. She looked up then and noticed the mirror was cracked from her fist hitting it and slowly, she stepped away. Her reflection in the mirror scared her. She saw herself in many different ways, and what she saw wasn't the girl she was now.

She looked at her hand, which had started to throb with pain, and then back up. Making a quick decision, she ran out of the dance studio. She ran and ran and ran until she couldn't run anymore and tripped, collapsing on the ground, crying, her wrist killing her, her heart hurting.

She soon felt someone's hand on her shoulder and moved away in fear, only to see it was just Clare. She was saying something, but Maya wasn't responding as she couldn't understand her.

Clare soon realized she couldn't hear, and started to sign to her. She signed back that she had hurt herself, and Clare told her she was taking her to the hospital. She helped her up, but Maya stopped her when she saw she was taking at her phone.

'_Don't call my brother or Cam. Please. Just take me home.' _

Clare shook her head, '_You need to go to the hospital_.'

Maya bit her lip, shaking her head again. She was refusing to get checked out. The last thing she needed was someone telling her there was something wrong with her again. Even if it was just her wrist.

'_Please, just take me home._'

Clare bit her lip, this time, and then slowly nodded. They then silently walked back to Maya's house, Maya's thoughts going over what had just happened moments before.

And she realized that who she was in the dance studio, was someone she never wanted to be, ever again.

* * *

Clare knocked on the door, and KC opened it, a smile on his face, but it soon disappeared when he saw Maya was with her. She held her hand up (which Clare had wrapped up in a black cloth she found in her bag, that belonged to Eli), and gave him a small, wry smile.

"I found her on the corner of the street a few blocks down. She was crying and her hand was bleeding." She told KC and he nodded, thanking her.

They both walked inside and Maya numbly sat down on the couch in the living room. KC disappeared upstairs, and came back down a moment later with a bandage wrap.

"She wont go to the hospital." Clare told him, "And she's been unresponsive since I found her with the exception of her begging me to take her home."

KC nodded again, "Any idea what happened?" He asked as he pulled out the first aid kit, and started to apply ointments to her injury, while Clare got a wet cloth and wiped off the blood.

She shook her head, "No idea. But what worries me is she was all alone."

KC stopped what he was doing and looked at her. Maya seemed almost zombie like as she just stared back at him, her expression emotionless.

"Also, she doesn't seem to have her hearing aids in, so obviously you have to sign to her."

KC nodded again.

'_You know you're not supposed to be alone. What were you thinking?'_

She shrugged.

'_That's not a good enough answer._'

Clare had finished wrapping her hand and wrist by then and she abruptly pushed away from them, her hands going to her hair, she started to pace back and forth a moment before turning to them, her eyes and cheeks red.

'_What's wrong, Maya? Talk to us. Why did you go off on your own like that?' _

She didn't answer, instead she shook her head and just stormed out of the room. A moment later, they heard a door slam and KC turned to Clare.

"Sorry about that." He apologized. "She gets like that when she's upset about something."

Clare let out a light laugh. "I do that too. I had an older sister who did it as well. I understand completely where that came from, but KC. Listen, she has to tell you what happened. If she doesn't then… it's just worrying to me is all. I was shocked to find her all bloody and upset on the ground. Why was she alone in the first place?"

KC shrugged. "No idea, but I'll find out. Don't worry." He put his hand on her shoulder and then pulled her into a hug. "Thanks so much for helping me out."

Clare gave him a sad smile. "Anytime. I should get going now though. Eli and I planned to meet at my house to study."

"Oh just studying?"

She playfully smacked him. "Goodbye, KC."

He smiled, "Bye Clare." And with that, she left, leaving KC by himself. He stood in his place for a moment, before cleaning up and then pulling his phone out of his pocket. He found who he was looking for and pressed call.

"Hey." He said, as the other person responded. "Yeah, fine. Just… do you want to meet up? We need to talk."

* * *

Maya was staring emotionlessly at her hand, the blood was seeping a bit through the bandage, but she was numb. She couldn't feel the pain at all.

She had put her hearing aids back in, so she was able to hear the door when it opened, and looked up to see Cam was there. He slowly walked to her and sat down on her bed. She leaned in and gently kissed him, which he returned, but then broke. He looked down and seemed to notice her bandage then.

"What happened to your hand?"

'_I had an accident._' She signed and he looked at her confused.

"What kind of accident?"

She shook her head and then rolled her eyes. She put her non bandaged arm on the back of his neck, and then pulled him to her kissing him deep, pressing her lips against his, hard. He tried to pull away, but she shook her head, pressing her lips against his again, and he eventually gave up, his hands going to her waist, he kissed her back.

She then shifted, so that she was sitting on his lap, though it had forced him to fall down on the bed. The lower part of her body was where his was, and she grinded her hips into his, a groan escaping from his mouth.

"Fuck, Maya." He whispered, and she did again, only to get the same response. She leaned down again and kissed him, grinding her body at the same time, creating a friction that got them both very excited and very willing to do whatever happened next.

Though it surprised he when he flipped her over, his body over hers, as he grinded himself into her, her eyes closing and her mouth opening slightly. He leaned down and started to kiss her neck, making her hands tighten on his shoulder.

She then wrapped both her arms around his neck, and pulled him closer, causing him to lift his head and look at her, she looked back at him, and then they were back at it, kissing like they've never kissed before.

After a few moments, she broke it, breathing heavily and gently pushed him off of her. He looked at her confused, and ignoring the winceworthy pain in her wrist, lifted her shirt over her head and threw it to the side.

His eyes then widened slightly as he took in what was in front of him.

A half naked Maya Matlin.

He could hardly believe it.

She had showered soon after storming away from Clare and KC, being aware of her bandage, and had gotten redressed in an off the shoulder t-shirt and black boy shorts. She didn't bother putting a bra on since she was planning on just staying at home all night anyway.

She then pushed his hoodie off his shoulders, and tugged at the bottom of his t-shirt, which he lifted up over his head. Then she pressed her upper body against his and he could feel her breath on him, and what he assumed, close her eyes in happiness.

Then she moved her head away from his shoulder and looked at him. He looked back at her and she fell back, pulling him with her, she kissed him, biting his lip, he groaned and kissed her harder and deeper, pressing himself as close to her as he could.

Then they broke apart again and just stared at each other, breathing heavily. She then surprised him by hugging him as close to her as she could, her heart beating fast, as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

And luckily for her, Cam knew she needed that comfort. So instead of questioning it, he wrapped his arms around her and flipped her so she was on top of him. She lifted her head and he looked at her.

"You're okay, Maya. Don't worry anymore." He whispered, his hand going up to move a strand of blonde hair from her eyes. "I'm always going to be here for you."

She bit her lip and nodded. Then she surprised him by saying, "I know you are." And then she lay her head on his chest and closed her eyes. He moved the blanket so that it was covering them both and just held her close, closing his eyes too, he just lay there, a million and one thoughts running through his mind, before his exhaustion from the day took over and he was out like a light.

* * *

"It was so strange." Clare told Eli as they walked into the music room. "She was so emotionless, it was like she was catatonic or something. KC and I tried to find what had happened, but she just stormed off. I'm really worried about her."

Eli hugged her and softly kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, it seems like there's something going on with her." He sighed, and sat down. "Whatever it is, we wont know unless she talks to us and says something."

"She's not going to. That's the thing. KC told me she had pretty much kept to herself even before her sister was killed. Maybe something happened that was a trigger… I don't know, but what I do know is she needs to speak before this gets worse."

Eli nodded, "I agree with you."

She was about to say something else when the door opened and everyone walked inside, all but KC, Jake, Maya and Cam.

"Any idea where KC, Jake, Maya and Cam are?" Adam asked them as he put his guitar down by his feet and took his backpack and jacket off. "I haven't seem them since lunch."

Jenna looked up from her phone, "KC wasn't in our last class, so I have no idea. But I did just text him."

Clare looked at her confused and suspicious, exchanging a look with Eli and Adam.

The door opened then and Maya and Cam walked in. Her head was down and he was looking straight ahead a pissed off look on his face. Jenna immediately went over to him, but he shook his head, mouthing that they'd talk later. She nodded and took her seat again as Adam helped Zig and Imogen set up the instruments.

Clare then watched as Maya sat down, staring at her hands. Cam took the seat next to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as she just buried her face in his chest.

"Cam, what's wrong?" Clare finally asked.

Maya looked up with tears in her eyes, and started to sign, but was too worked up to do it, and just shook her head, biting her lower lip, as she put her hands over her face and started crying.

Cam held her and then let out a sigh. "You guys didn't hear I'm guessing?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and shook their heads.

"Wait, does this have to do with where KC is and why he's not answering my texts?" Jenna asked and Cam nodded.

"KC's in the hospital." He began and everyone looked at him wide-eyed. "He was on his way home to get something he'd left there and was jumped. They left him in an alleyway. "Jake called me and told me what happened as he was the one to find him."

"Oh my god." Clare's eyes watered for her friend. She stood up and looked at Maya. "Oh my god, oh my god."

Jenna's eyes teared up as well, and she just looked away, while Eli went to comfort Clare.

"Why are you guys here?" Zig asked a moment later, as Tristan and Tori walked in. Everyone had been so focused on what was going on and what had happened that they hadn't even realized they were missing.

"What's going on?" Tori asked, looking at the solumn looks on everyone's face. "Why is everyone crying?"

"KC was jumped." Zig explained to his girlfriend. "He's in the hospital."

Tori gasped and then turned to Maya and Cam. "Go." She said to them and they both looked up at her. "Go see your brother, Maya. What the fuck are you still doing here?" She didn't mean it to come out so rude, but it did and Maya just numbly nodded. Getting up, she took Cam's hand in hers as they both walked out. Clare and Eli quickly grabbed their bags. Jenna doing the same.

"Rehearsal is cancelled today guys. Obviously." Adam said shrugging his shoulders, he grabbed his stuff and followed after them, the door slamming behind him.

Everyone looked at each other a moment before grabbing everything and leaving the room.

* * *

Cam and Maya were slowly walking down the street when Cam looked up to see Luke with his sister. He told Maya to wait five minutes while he dealt with something. She nodded and took a seat in the café they had reached, her hand going to her bandaged wrist, she just stared at it.

Cam didn't say anything as soon as he reached Luke. He instead punched him as hard as he could in the nose, causing him to fall over and his sister (who's name he didn't care to remember) gasped, "fight me!" He yelled at him and got on top of him, fighting him while his sister just stood there.

"Whoa! Whoa!" He heard and got pulled off of Luke by Adam and Eli.

"What the hell, Cam?" Adam demanded.

He just shook his head as Eli went to help him, but he stopped him. "Don't fucking go near that asshole."

"Don't talk about my brother like that!" Luke's sister yelled.

"Right. Don't talk to the guy who's planning on helping in the murder of my girlfriend. Sure thing." Cam snapped, as Luke stood up. "I _know _you had something to do with KC's jump earlier." He got in his face, but Eli pulled him back. "You do anything else to hurt Maya, her family, friends or anyone else, I will make damn _sure _you get what you deserve, because that was _nothing _compared to what I'm going to do to you."

He glared at him and Luke just scoffed. "Whatever."

Cam tried to hurt him again, but Eli pulled him back. "He's not worth it." He said, "Let's go." He turned him and then forcefully pushed him towards the door where he saw Maya was with Clare and Jenna, cowering against them. He walked over to her and she immediately hugged him.

"Mind explaining what that was about?" Adam asked as he straightened out his jacket, but Cam shook his head.

"Not really. How did you even get here?"

"We were all originally headed to the hospital like you were, but found Maya alone, so we stopped to see what was going on, and she pointed in here, where we saw you punch Luke." Clare explained, then she looked over his shoulder. "He's got a bloody nose by the way. Looks broken."

Cam then felt the pain in his hand and shook it. "He's going to get a lot worse later on. Trust me."

Eli just sighed and shook his head, "We'll talk about that later, but right now, let's get to KC." He nodded, wiping the side of his mouth and took Maya's good hand in his. "We'll get your hand checked out as well," Cam looked down realizing his knuckles were all bloody.

"Fine." Was all he said and they all left the café. Maya however was walking beside Cam, who squeezed her hand. She squeezed it back and then rested her head on his shoulder, they didn't need communication to know what the other felt.

They just already knew.

* * *

The walk to the hospital was silent.

The nurse directed them to where KC's room was and Maya stood outside the door. Jake came out then and motioned for her to follow him where she saw her stepbrother, and let out a gasp, her eyes tearing up.

She immediately ran to him, careful to avoid his bandaged wrist and looked up to see his face was all bruised and cut up. She kneeled next to his bed, and took his hand in hers, laying her cheek on his hand, she rubbed it, in the corner of her eye seeing Cam was taking a seat in the chair beside her.

She then looked up at KC again and broke down, her tears falling faster as she looked at her beaten up brother.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, laying her cheek on his stomach. "I'm so sorry."

Cam looked at Jake, and they just stood there together, watching as Maya apologized over and over and over, her crying eventually getting worse and worse until she eventually just stopped.

Then she fell to the ground, Cam immediately catching her before her head hit the ground. She opened her eyes slowly and gave him a sad smile.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and he nodded, relieved that she was okay.

"Don't be." He whispered back, kissing her forehead. "It's not your fault."

She just nodded, but closed her eyes again. He sighed, and closed his eyes as well, letting her rest against him.

He was going to get to the bottom of what happened to KC. He didn't care how or what he had to do. Even if it meant he head to kill someone to get to the truth.

He'd do whatever it takes.

* * *

**Who did KC go see? Dun dun dun. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Happy birthday, Jasmyn! I tried to get this out in time for you, hope I did a good job! **

**Anyway, major, MAJOR surprise at the end of this... like very end. **

**Enjoy and review! I own nothing. **

* * *

It had been two days since KC had gotten jumped. He still hadn't woken up, and Maya was starting to feel more and more guilty as time went on.

Understandably she wasn't going to school. Instead of questioning it (as he already knew what was going on), Simpson had let her have the days off. Cam had gone back and forth in between school, practice (almost kicking Luke's ass again, but being stopped by Dallas and Owen), and the hospital, never leaving her side, except to get them food (not that Maya had eaten it) and to go to the bathroom.

Maya, however, had refused to leave his side and no one argued with her.

Eli had sent Cam a text saying he, Jake, Jenna, and Clare were going to stop by after school on the third day—the day Cam had decided to skip school and be with Maya. Jake, meanwhile, (with some help from mostly Jenna and Adam) was trying to get to the bottom of what had happened, but hadn't gotten anywhere.

Now, all Cam was doing was hoping something happened and that Maya wouldn't feel so guilty anymore.

He was currently sitting in the chair in KC's room. Maya was lying beside her brother and staring up at him. He sighed and closed his eyes, moving his head back, he rested for a minute, before he heard the door open and straightened up his body. Jenna walked in then and motioned for Maya to go with her, but she shook her head. The door had closed behind Jenna, but soon opened again, and someone who Cam recognized as Maya's stepmother (and KC's mother) walked in. He had met her a few times since KC had gotten admitted to the hospital, but it was always very brief. She came and went and didn't really stay too long for Cam to really talk to her and get to know her. All he really knew about her, other than the obvious, was that her name was Lisa.

"He's still unconscious." Cam told her, almost robotically and the older woman nodded.

"The doctor's say he probably won't wake up for a few more days." She bit her lip and walked over to her son. She gently ran her fingers through his hair, as Maya looked up, lifting her head, she bit her lip, and quickly got off the bed, almost like she had been burned or something.

Cam watched her, confused. "Maya?" He questioned and exchanged a look with Jenna who looked just as confused as he felt.

Maya backed away until her back hit the wall, and slumped forward, her hair going in front of her. Cam almost went over to her to make sure she was okay, but she lifted her head and looked up at him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jenna motioned for her to go with her and she nodded, robotically following her out of the room. Cam furrowed his eyebrows confused as he looked in between KC and the door and just decided he'd soon figure it all out, before he exited the room.

"Cam!" He heard and looked up to see Tori running towards him, Tristan behind her. Tori soon caught her breath and put her hand on his shoulder. "Any news?" She asked, but only earned a headshake in return. His phone went off then and he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing the text and who had sent it, he looked up at them apologetically.

"Excuse me, I have to take this." He read the message, then pressed send, bringing the phone to his ear. It ran twice before the person picked up. "Jake?"

"Yo." He said, "So, you're not going to believe what happened at school today."

"I'm pretty sure anything that goes on from about a few months ago forward, won't surprise me, but go ahead, try me."

"I have a class with the guy on your hockey team and Eli. The one he keeps saying you're accusing of plotting Maya's murder." Cam took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. "Well, anyway, he's in our Chemistry class, and you know, usually he seems alright. I mean he doesn't really cause too much trouble, but today something seemed different. He kept on looking at his phone and suspiciously looking around. Eli had noticed the strange behavior and had hit me and pointed it out to me. The student who usually sits behind him, wasn't there today, so I nonchalantly sat down, and struck up a conversation with the girl in the next seat over. She was flirting with me and shit, but I ignored her. She's not my type, so don't call me an asshole or judge me for it. Anyway, to make a long story short, he caught me trying to see what was on his phone—guess I'm not as good at that low key detective shit as I thought I was—and started to taunt me in a way. He was all, 'Your friend is in the hospital, seems to me like he deserved it,' you know all that shit."

"Yeah…" Cam nodded as he took a seat and noticed Maya was walking back towards him, but she went back in the room, causing him to let out a sigh and return to the phone call.

"So to make an incredibly long story short, I started to fight him." Cam mentally cheered at that. "And he told me he knew some sort of secret. Now, I'm not completely a hundred percent sure what this secret's about, but he told me it involved me, Maya, and KC. I'm trying to think about what it could be, since no shit it'd be about us since we're the one he has beef with for no damn reason. When I told him to tell me what it was, he just laughed in my face and got up, then he just said, 'it's a secret and I'm not going to tell you so don't think I will' and then walked off."

"Great, so now Luke has some dirt on you guys, but of course we don't know what it is. That's fucking great." Cam sighed and looked down at his feet. "Think you can find a way to figure it out?"

Jake shook his head. "I wish man. I wish."

"Know anyone at all who could, maybe? Like a conniving, vindictive, Blair Waldorf wannabe?"

"Who?"

"Fucking Imogen man. She called me and Maya Serena and Dan and when I asked her what the hell that meant, she said something about a show called _Gossip Girl_, so of course, I mention it to Maya. She gets all excited and makes me watch it with her. So from what I can see with the three episodes I've watched so far, is that Blair Waldorf is a sneaky, conniving bitch who can get to the bottom of anything and take them down. So if you can find someone like that, that'd be great. We could use them."

"I know someone like that." Cam looked up to see Clare was staring at him, an amused look on her face.

"Uhh…" Cam said, as Jake just laughed in the background.

She motioned for him to give her the phone and he did. "Jake?" She paused a moment. "Yeah, Eli told me about it. I know. So just come to the hospital and we'll talk about it. I do in fact know someone who will help us. Yes, it is. Alright then, great. See you later. Ciao." And with that she hung up and turned towards Cam. "Here's your phone."

Cam took the phone from her and looked in it and her a moment, before his eyes settled on her. "So… who is this person you speak of?"

Clare smirked, "It's someone we all should know very well, but for reasons I don't understand, we don't."

Cam blinked. "That tells me absolutely nothing."

"That was the point Dan Humphrey. Now come with me, there's someone who really needs you in that room over there."

Cam nodded and stood up, following her back into KC's room, all the while thinking about what the hell Luke had on Maya, KC and Jake and wondering what it could be.

What he didn't expect was the answer that he would get so soon.

* * *

"_Maya! Maya! Wake up little bitch…" Maya opened her eyes, laughing when she saw her sister above her, smirking as she jumped on her._

"_Ahh! Katie! What the fuck?" _

_Katie shook her head, and sat back. She picked up something that was at Maya's feet and held it towards her. Maya's rolled her eyes once she saw the squirt gun that Katie basically carried around with her everywhere. It was always filled with vodka or some sort of alcohol. _

"_You're fucking insane." Maya told her, as Katie just laughed and pointed it towards her mouth, pressing the trigger Maya watched as a brown liquid shot out and landed on her sister's tongue. "That is so gross. Does Jake know you like to play around with 'alcohol guns'?" She used quotes around the word and Katie shrugged, she lay beside her, the bed bouncing with her weight. _

"_Who the fuck cares, Maya?" She asked staring up at the ceiling. "Who cares about anything really?" _

_Maya shrugged and silently turned to face her sister. "What's on your mind?" _

_Katie looked at her, "You know how lucky you are?" _

_Maya blinked shaking her head. "I don't get it." _

"_You and dad have a relationship, I'd give anything to know who he is." Katie sighed, staring up at the ceiling again. "I mean, you'd think that now you and I are on speaking terms, he'd try to talk to me, something, but of course, even that's too hard for him." _

"_Katie, he doesn't even talk to me and I live with him. What makes you think he'd try to do it to you? I don't even have a relationship with him if you want me to be honest." _

"_You don't?" Katie looked at her confused and Maya shook her head. _

"_I know, shocker." She looked down and then back at her again. "I'm honestly surprised he got remarried. After my mom died it just got worse. Be happy you at least still have a mother in your life."_

_Katie pointed the squirt gun at the ceiling and pretended to shoot. "You mean my drug addict of a mother? Yeah… so lucky." _

_Maya put her hand in the shape of a gun and then pretended to shoot the wall, ceiling, her sister, and then put it again her head, she pretended to shoot again, and then fell against her, laughing. "Guess we're both just fucked up aren't we?" _

_Katie scoffed. "Tell me about it. Anyway, want some whiskey, sis?" _

_Maya narrowed her eyes, "It's nine in the morning." _

"_It's five o'clock somewhere." Katie shrugged and squirted it in her mouth. Maya sighed and rolled her eyes. _

"_Give me some of that, you bitch." And with that, Katie squirted the gun a few times, both girls laughing when it almost missed her mouth. _

_After a few minutes, they calmed down and Katie got up. "Come on, we got to go meet Anna and the others. Time to have some fun." _

"_This early?" _

_Katie nodded, "What's with you? Come on! Get your ass up and get dressed! We've got places to be and people to see." _

"_I hate you." Maya groaned, rubbing her head. "But fine, I'll get up. Give me a sec, I'll be ready soon." _

_Katie nodded and stepped out of the room. Leaning against the wall, she held the gun to her mouth and kept squirting it. A moment later, the door opened and Maya stepped out of it. _

"_Ready?" _

_Maya nodded and they walked down the stairs together. As they passed by the full length mirror in the hallway and Maya got a glimpse of her outfit, she wondered at that exact moment, when exactly she turned into the person she'd come to be. _

* * *

Eli had somehow gotten Maya to eat and play games. How he'd managed that, no one was quite sure. But Clare figured with his short attention span and his somewhat childlike personality, he had come up with a way to get Maya to just side with him for a minute and forget about everything. She couldn't say he wasn't grateful for him for that.

Jake had shown up about a half hour after he'd gotten off the phone with Cam and Clare, and they had all gone outside to talk, leaving Maya alone with KC.

"Alright, Clare. Who is this person you know of who can help us?" Jake asked.

"Fiona Coyne." She simply stated and Cam looked at her.

"As in Imogen's girlfriend?"

Clare nodded. "She's good at getting what she needs. Plus her family's like super rich and shit so she's got what we need to do it. Another plus is she and Eli are pretty close, so I'm betting she's willing to help us out."

"Pretty safe bet there, Clare." Eli said, his phone in hand. "I'll call her and see if she can meet us here."

Clare nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Perfect."

Cam sighed and Maya walked out then, her eyes looked tired, and she was biting her lip, rubbing her arm. He immediately went over to her and hugged her. She hugged him back, and then they broke the hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked and she nodded her head. Then she put her finger underneath his chin and brought him close to her, kissing him softly. He closed his eyes and kissed her back. He then got an idea, "Come with me." He said quietly and she nodded her head. He looked at everyone else who gave him a short nod, and he put his arm around her, leading her in the opposite direction.

They soon got to the cafeteria and Maya watched as he got some coffee, giving one of them to her, they took a seat across from each other.

"Okay." He finally said. "Talk to me."

She blinked.

"I hope you know… I'll always be here for you okay? And I hope that by now you've stopped blaming yourself for what happened. It's not your fault. You do know that right?"

She hesitated, but nodded, nonetheless. She then took out her phone and started to type on it. She showed it to him a moment later.

_I just feel really bad. All KC has done is try to protect me, but he got really hurt this time. What if he wakes up and decides not to protect me anymore?_

Cam looked at her, "is that what you're afraid of?"

She bit her lip and nodded, tears forming in her eyes. He then got up and moved his seat next to hers. He hugged her close, "That's never going to happen, Maya. KC loves you, he'd do whatever it takes to protect you. I'm sure he'd have this happen again if it means you'd be safe. I know I would."

She looked at him, her blue eyes dark, as they searched his brown ones. Then without warning, she kissed him, hard on the mouth. He didn't know what to do, other than respond, so he soon did, kissing her deeper, until she became breathless and they broke it off, staring at each other.

"What the hell was that?"

They both looked up to see Jake standing above them, a confused look on his face. Clare stood next to him, and it took a moment, but Cam had realized she'd been the one to say it. He sighed and looked away.

"You guys looked ready to swallow each other whole." Clare bit her lip, "Not that I'm objecting since you two are just adorable together, but still. Holy crap guys." She had a smile on her face, so Cam and Maya soon knew she was just messing with them. "Anyway, Maya, I came to get you. Eli's looking for you for some reason, said something about finishing the game… and actually winning it. I don't know, I wasn't listening to him." She waved her hand in dismissal and Maya smiled. Nodding she signed '_thank you_' and got up. Leaning down she gave Cam one last kiss, and then left the cafeteria.

Cam stared at Clare, "You have one strange boyfriend, Clare." He paused, "No offense."

"None taken." Clare said, taking a seat across from him as Jake went to get them coffee. Cam silently sipped his as Clare studied him, "So what did you guys talk about? Other than you know, taking the next step in your relationship."

"I'll have you know… we didn't talk about that, exactly." He looked away, "She told me she's afraid KC wont want to protect her after this incident."

Clare's eyes widened. "What? That's insane! Why would she—" She was cut off by an out of breath Jenna running into the cafeteria and towards their table. She looked at her concerned. "Jenna?"

"Guys! Come quick! KC's waking up!" She hurriedly told them. And when they didn't move an inch from the shock, she grabbed Cam's arm, pulling him up. "Come on! Hurry!"

"Jenna? When did you…" Jake started, but Clare pulled on his hand, causing him to drop one of the coffees at his feet.

"No time," Clare shook her head, "Just come! KC's waking up!"

"Oh, shit…" And with that, they all ran down through the hospital, ignoring the yells from the doctors and nurses to not run in the halls, until they got to KC's room. Clare stepped inside first, and walked closer to see KC's eyes were in fact opened and he looked a bit confused. Maya was right beside him, her hand holding his. He turned to them and saw that they were all there.

"You guys… are here?" He asked, his voice croaky.

Clare nodded, "Of course. You were out for a few days… how do you feel?"

"A little confused, but otherwise fine. My head hurts a lot though."

Clare hesitated to ask her next question, "Do you remember anything that happened to you, I mean?"

KC shrugged, "Other than I was going home and I got jumped… not really."

"Better question," Cam asked, stepping forward. "Do you know who did it?"

He nodded, "Luke… Jon… some guys from your team."

Cam clenched his fist in anger. Maya seemed to notice how tense he'd gotten and her eyes went to his hand immediately, then back to his face. They locked eyes and he calmed down a bit, before speaking again.

"I'm going to kick his ass."

"Wait!" Clare stopped him from going anywhere. "We'll take him down, okay? Don't worry. You said you needed someone to help, and Fiona will do it."

"She can't work alone." Eli said, "She'll need someone just as vindictive."

"If only Maya could speak…" KC let out a humorous laugh. "You were pretty good at that before."

Maya wasn't sure to feel offended or not, but still, she abruptly let go of her stepbrother's hand. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice. Though he'd had a point, she didn't really want anyone to know much about her past, or at least what they didn't know already.

'_I had help from my sister._' She reminded him, and Jenna translated. '_She was the one who was better at it than I was_. She always came up with crazy shit for us to do.'

"Well, then look no further…" Another voice was added into the group. They all looked around, realizing it wasn't anyone in the room that had spoken, but someone else. Slowly turning around, Eli, Clare, Tristan, Tori, Jenna, and Cam all looked understandably confused. KC's eyes widened, and Jake's mouth dropped open in shock, his hands going to his side. Maya slowly lifted her head up, her mouth set in a thin line, her eyes narrowed slightly. The person walked closer into the room, the smirk on her face growing, her eyes narrowed. Her eyes locked onto Maya, and she leaned a bit to the side, her head tilted.

"Miss me, baby sis?"

* * *

**Dun... dun... dun... **


	12. Chapter 12

**You guys so nailed it with all your reviews. Holy crap. **

**Also, thanks for not only the only about 20 reviews for the last chapter, but also for the almost hundred reviews! That's so exciting to me, I've never had that many before. So thank you guys so so much. **

**Also, I'm seriously convinced that Talia's either who she is here, or Maya and Katie's long lost halfister in the show. I swear. It's true. I'm really glad you're enjoying this story so much.**

**I honestly kept rewriting this chapter over and over and over again, I wanted it to be perfect. It's still not really, but it's pretty close to me. I just hope it works, lol.**

**Enjoy. Sorry for the long ass wait, but major, major surprise at the very, very end. **

* * *

The mystery girl stepped closer into the room, going more under the light from the dim lighting fixture above their heads. She looked at KC.

"What about you, bro?" She still had the smirk on her face and KC looked at her angrily. Jenna walked over to him, her hand going on top of his, she touched it gently, which in turn caused him to look at her.

"Everything okay?" She asked him quietly and he just slowly nodded his head.

"Excuse me if I'm being rude," Clare began, "But who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I never properly introduced myself," The girl said, holding out her hand, Maya noticed how damn perfect her nails were. Red, glossy, and irritating, because the girl irritated Maya to no end, as they'd never really gotten along in the first place. She narrowed her eyes again, looking behind her a moment, she turned back to the group in front of her. "I'm Talia, KC's sister."

Jenna looked at KC and he slowly nodded his head, a sigh escaping from his lips. "She's my sister." He faked a smile. "Yay."

"Wait." Zig held his hand up. "You have a sister?" Maya looked at him hurt, but he clarified. "I mean like a blood sister. You're his stepsister, much different." She nodded her head, and then he looked at Talia.

"Yeah." She answered, her body moved excitedly. "He and I are actually twins."

"Twins." Clare repeated flatly. "Okay, where the hell have you been all this time?"

She blinked, confused. "I'm sorry?"

"She means why haven't you been around at all the past year? You know, the shooting, when we moved, Maya's condition, being there for your fucking family?" KC asked her bitterly.

"I'm sorry." Talia turned to face him, "You know I couldn't stay here, and… you know why."

Maya stared at her hands, and everyone just looked at each other confused. Jake more or less looked away, Clare noticed this and walked over to him.

"Is there something about her you know?" She asked him, almost in a whisper.

He nodded.

She motioned for him to continue.

"She and Maya's sister didn't get along too well… so of course she and Maya fought a lot too. About a month before the whole incident happened, she disappeared and no one knew why." He whispered back and she nodded, taking that as an acceptable answer as KC spoke.

"Because of your… drug problem?" KC asked, and Clare's mouth dropped open slightly.

"I wasn't the only one with a drug problem, KC." Talia stared at him hard. "Katie was also fucked up."

Cam saw Maya tense at the mention of her sister's name. He walked over to her and stood beside her. She just stared straight ahead.

"And… Maya too, if I remember correctly." Talia added off handedly.

"That's because you corrupted her!" KC yelled suddenly scaring everyone in the room, including Maya who jumped.

"I did nothing! She made the decision! Are you going to hold it against me for the rest of my damn life, KC?" Talia argued back and KC looked away a moment, before looking back at her.

"Yes, because you left when Maya and I neededyou. No, forget me. Maya was the one who needed you and you bailed!"

"Why are you the one saying all this? Why can't she stand up for herself?" Talia demanded, looking right at Maya who slowly lifted her head and just glared at her. She looked at KC, and he looked at her. She gave him a nod, and he turned back to Talia.

"She's partially deaf, she can't speak." He told her, and Talia immediately took a step back. Jake saw her eyes tear up, her hand going to her mouth, which had slightly dropped as she looked over at her young stepsister.

"Oh my god." She breathed a moment later. "How?"

"The shooting." KC answered, not bothering to look at her. Jenna put her hand on top of his and held it, squeezing it, as she watched the brother-sister showdown.

"I—" Talia began, but didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry."

"That's not going to change anything," KC looked at her. "How did you even know I was here? And by here I mean, in the hospital."

"Do you know uh… a Luke?" She asked and KC clenched his fist, noticing Cam did the same thing. He was grateful for him in that moment.

"Yeah, we know him." Cam spoke for the first time. "He's on my hockey team and he's the reason why KC's here."

"What?" Talia turned to him, "That's insane!"

"It's not totally insane." Jake spoke, "Luke's been after Maya and KC since they transferred to Degrassi. Other than that he knows the guy who killed Katie, and hurt Maya, we're not really sure why Luke's after them other than that the guy wants revenge or some shit."

"Katie's dead?" Talia asked, "How did she—"

"The shooting." Jake answered before KC could.

"You would know this, had you bothered to stick around." KC responded coldly.

"Okay, we'll deal with that later, KC. Okay? But I want to help." Talia looked right at him. "How are you going to get Luke and that… guy to lay off?"

"We haven't come up with that yet." Clare answered.

"Yeah, my friend Fiona, who's really good at this, is going to meet with us tomorrow to help us out."

"Let me join." Talia turned to him, and looked at him, almost as though she was begging. "This guy hurt my sisters, I want to get revenge on him." Her voice was wavering as she spoke, the intensity all in her blue eyes.

"_Step_sisters." KC corrected, but she ignored him.

"First tell us how you know KC was in the hospital," Cam said, "Then we'll talk about the other thing. What did Luke tell you? No, wait, start with how you know him."

"We met a few months ago. I was in Toronto with my friend, visiting from Montreal and we got into a club. He was there and we started talking and had a few drinks—"

"I don't want to hear that," KC glared at her, but she ignored him again.

"He started talking about a friend of his and how he had his brother… well, he did something really bad," At least KC had to give Talia credit for not sharing what happened with Maya to everyone, "and then he was killed. He said he killed a girl, but the other girl got away. He had mentioned how fucked up it was, but I just looked at him like he was insane, and decided to investigate a little more, that's how I found out it was Maya and Katie. And then I tried looking you guys up, but you weren't anywhere to be found. I still hung out with Luke though and he said that a girl and her brother started to attend his school, and I realized, after a while, that it was you two. I went by there and found Luke and he said something about you getting jumped and that you were in the hospital, I just rushed right over here." She shrugged, "There, that's my story."

"Does he know you're related to KC and Maya?" Clare asked, but she shook her head.

"Not yet."

Clare nodded, but didn't say anything.

It was silent for a few minutes before Talia got an idea. "Wait, you said your friend, Fiona is it, is going to help you take Luke down?" Clare nodded again. "Could you call her and see if she could meet right now? I have a few ideas I'd like to run by her."

Clare turned to Eli, but he already had his phone up to his ear. She saw Clare smile, and then squeeze his hand, before letting it go as he walked out of the room for a moment.

"What's your plan?" Jenna asked her.

"Let's wait until Fiona is here," Talia mysteriously crossed one leg over the other. "Trust me, It'll be worth the wait."

Eli came in a moment later, "She said she'll be here as soon as as she can."

Talia narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Perfect."

Maya waved her hand in KC's face, and started to sign to him. He nodded and signed something back, which she responded and nodded back to.

"Wow." Talia whispered, "That's pretty amazing." She said as Maya stood up, taking Cam's hand, she pulled him with her as they exited the room. She looked at KC, pointing behind her, "They're—"

"Together." KC confirmed. "He's a good guy, I trust him."

"Even though he's on the same hockey team with the guy who may or not be responsible for Katie's murder, and for putting you in here? How do you know he's not planning anything with them?"

"Because Cam wouldn't do that." Jenna spoke, her tone cold. "I know him enough and I know he's the good guy."

Talia shrugged, "He could just be working for both sides."

"I really doubt that." Clare responded. "He really cares about Maya."

She looked at her, "How do you know that's not all an act?"

"Okay, do you know something about Cam that we don't?" Jake snapped, when she didn't say anything, he continued. "Exactly, so leave it be. He's not working for Luke and he's on Maya's side two hundred percent."

Talia sighed, "You're right. I just don't know him well enough to be able to judge him."

"Exactly. Stop that childish shit you've been doing since we were kids and grow the fuck up Talia." KC spoke so coldly, it almost made her cry. But she was Talia Guthrie, she wouldn't cry. Not for anyone.

* * *

"You okay, Maya?" Cam asked her and she nodded, turning around to face him, she put his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. She pulled away and stared up at him for a few minutes, before he smiled, knowing what she wanted and gave her a much deeper kiss than she'd given him. They broke apart after a few seconds, and she pulled away, her hand traveling down his arm until she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her to the seats. She sat down and pulled her phone out, she quickly typed something and then Cam heard his phone beep. He pulled it out and looked at it.

_I hope you're not mad. _

He looked up at her confused, "Why would I be mad?"

He waited a moment and soon got his response.

_Because Talia told you I did drugs. _

He stared at her, "You told me that too didn't you? Kind of. You had a very dark past, I understand that, but it's not affecting you now is it? You're not going to go out and do drugs the first chance you get, right?" She shook her head. "Exactly. I have nothing to be mad at you for, come here." He put his arm around her and she lay her head on his shoulder. "Everything is fine, I promise."

She looked up at him and smiled, reaching up she kissed him, and then lay her head back on his chest, staring straight ahead for a few moments, when she saw someone walk in and sat up.

Cam looked up too and noticed the tall, dark, curly haired girl. "Fiona," He said, standing up and holding his hand out for her to shake. "It's nice to see you again. Sorry about Dallas."

She smiled, "Never a problem. Now, I got a call from Eli, seems you're all in need of my services. What's going on?"

Maya stood up, she waved and Fiona smiled.

"Hey."

"Fiona, this is my girlfriend, Maya. She's the one you're going to be protecting. Well, her and her brother and a good friend, really."

Fiona nodded, "It's nice to meet you, Maya."

'_Same_.' Maya signed, and Cam translated, shocked when a moment later, Fiona started to sign back to her.

'_Well, let's see what I can do for you_.' Fiona signed back.

"You know sign language?"

Fiona nodded, "I moved around a lot growing up. I had a few friends who were deaf and they taught me the language. It's a beautiful language."

Maya nodded and then led her into the KC's room. As soon as they had walked in, Eli went over to her and gave her a hug, thanking her for coming.

"Alright, so tell me, what's—" Her eyes landed on KC, and she gasped. "What the hell happened to you?"

"He got jumped, by who we assume is Luke and some other teammates on the hockey team. Excluding Cam of course." Jenna answered.

"Also rule out Dallas, I've been with him the last couple of days working on a project." Fiona sighed. "So tell me what's going on?"

"To make a long story short, Luke and a new student at school, Jon are basically stalking Maya, KC, and I because of something that happened a year ago. As you probably can see, Maya's partially deaf, and she is because of a shooting that had occurred at that time. Jon's brother hurt Maya badly and then he tried to kill her, but succeeded in killing her sister instead. His brother was killed as well, and now he's stalking us and making our lives hell because he wants to avenge his brother's death or some shit."

"Okay." Fiona nodded, "So is there anything else?"

"Yeah." Cam snapped his fingers. "Jake, I think you said that you overheard Luke in class saying that he knew some secret about Maya."

Jake nodded, "Yeah, and we're trying to figure out what that is."

Maya shrugged.

Fiona nodded again, looking around the room, her eyes landed on Talia. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you at all."

"Oh," Talia's voice was a bit cheery, everyone noticed. "I'm Talia. I'm KC's sister." She held her hand out. "It's nice to meet you…"

"Fiona." Fiona shook her hand, briefly. "Okay. So who here besides Cam, obviously, who knows Luke?"

"Me." Talia waved her hand in the air. "I'm pretty close with him."

"I bet." KC snorted and Jenna smacked him on the arm gently.

"Alright." Fiona said, but Talia cut in again.

"I have a plan and I've been waiting for you to get here so I could share it with everyone."

"Alright, go ahead." Fiona motioned for her to continue.

"We need to hit Luke where he's weak." Talia began, "I mean he's pretty religious, and he usually wont do anything that would make God unhappy or whatever—"

"If that's true, why'd he jump me?" KC asked, but Talia shook her head, she opened her mouth to continue, but Jenna jumped in.

"He wont go farther than making out." She said and KC looked at her surprised. "I had a little thing with him before I even knew you existed, don't be mad." His face softened and she breathed a sigh of relief before continuing. "He told me I 'tempted him sexually', whatever that means, and he kind of stopped before we could do anything more."

"Thank god." KC muttered.

"Okay, good to know, same thing actually happened to me." Talia said, "We got drunk and somehow as drunk as he was, he still stopped me from going farther."

"Interesting." Fiona nodded.

"But," Talia added, "He tried to get me to do more once, but I reminded him of he said to me and he kind of just brushed it off."

"So you have gone farther?" Jenna asked, and Talia nodded.

"Okay, well, here's what I think we should do." Fiona narrowed her eyes. "Talia, you're going to keep getting close to him, find out all of his weak spots, and see if you can break him." Talia nodded. "And we'll wait for that moment, and get him when the time is right. I mean whatever it is he has over Maya can't be that bad, right?"

"With Luke, you never know." Cam said, "He could have some great blackmail or some shit blackmail. It depends."

Talia suddenly snapped her fingers, "Wait, he has a sister."

"And?" Fiona blinked.

"Her name is Becky, she's like super religious too."

"Right, Becky!" Eli snapped his fingers. "I totally forgot about her! She and I have our differences and I swear sometimes she just wants to jump me, but anyway, she's very conservative. And very… uptight, like she just has this stick up her ass all the time and boy is it—"

"Get to the point, Eli." Clare sweetly told him.

"Right, anyway, she wouldn't really approve of everything Luke's doing if she knew what was going on."

"And how is she supposed to know?" Jenna asked. "Would it look sketchy if we just went up to her like, 'hey your brother is a sociopath who's working with another sociopath to kill an innocent girl?'"

"A bit, yes." Eli admitted, "But she'd believe us if we could convince her to help us without her knowing what she was really doing. She's all about helping others out."

"This is very true." Talia nodded, pointing at Eli. "He's got a point."

"Okay, fine. We'll get Becky to be on our side, but the question is how?"

Talia smirked, "Leave that to me."

"Okay… so we'll think of other things to do as we go, but we've got the basic idea, right now, Talia you're the main part in all of this, see what you can do to break him and see if he'll tell you what the secret is."

Talia nodded, "Got it."

"Okay, good. We start tomorrow in the morning." Fiona clapped her hands.

"Wait, one problem." Talia raised her hand, "I don't go to your school, so I cant exactly be there."

"Just meet me in the front in the morning. I'll have a plan then." Fiona responded and Talia nodded.

"Perfect."

They then started to talk about other things, and Maya looked around, thankful for such a strong support system, and to have so many people on her side. She smiled to herself, and then felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Tori behind her.

"How are you feeling?"

'_O-K_.' Maya finger-spelled and Tori nodded, turning around to talk to Zig for a moment, she turned to Maya.

"We've got to get home, damn dinner curfew, but we'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Maya smiled and nodded giving them both hugs, before going to Cam and taking his hand. She squeezed and he smiled at her.

She was lucky and she knew it.

* * *

"Okay." Fiona said, running up to Talia the next morning in her heels. "I told Simpson that you were KC's sister and you were just visiting and checking out the school today because you're thinking about transferring here. Jake and I talked this morning and he said he wants you to go to his morning class, because Luke's in it. Walk in there, and obviously, you're going to surprise him, but make sure you sit next to him okay?" Talia nodded, Fiona handed her a laminated pass with a string around it. "Okay, here's your pass, you have to wear that around your neck all day. We have to wear damn school IDs all day so you're not the only one, and yeah. You should be set to go from there."

Talia smirked and nodded, "Alright, thanks Fiona."

Fiona nodded and then the bell rang. "I got to get to class, and so do you, so I'll meet you at the break in between to discuss what information you got if any."

Talia gave her a nod, "See you then." And with that Fiona ran off. Talia slowly walked up the steps and into the school. Her eyes scanned the hallway for Jake, whom she found just a few feet away from her, putting things away into what she assumed was his locker. She walked to him and put her arm around his shoulders. "Sup, Jake?"

"Sup?" He shook his bag and then slammed the locker shut, turning around, which caused her arm to fall off his shoulders. "Ready for this?"

Talia narrowed her eyes, "I was born ready."

* * *

They walked into class about two minutes later, she stood in the doorway for a few minutes, and soon found Luke sitting by himself at a table in the middle of the classroom. His back was turned towards the door, so she walked more inside, taking the seat beside him.

"Funny seeing you here, Luke, isn't it?" She said and he turned around to face her a look of shock on his face.

"You're in this class?"

"No, just checking the school out." She casually sat back in her seat. "I'm thinking of transferring here."

"Really? To Degrassi?" She nodded. "Well, alright then. Great." His smile was insincere, she could see it."

"So…" She trailed off, her hand going to his, he looked at it a moment before looking at her. "Do you maybe want to meet up later and…. You know?" She winked and she watched his eyes light up.

"Uh, yeah sure. Maybe before my hockey practice?"

She shrugged, "Why not? Not like I got anything better to do." She started to inspect her perfect manicure and he fell silent for a few seconds. "Anyway, just wondering, why are you and your friend trying to make that girl's life miserable?" She mentally shuddered at calling her own stepsister 'that girl' but knew it was just to keep up appearances. As far as she knew, Luke didn't know she was related to KC or Maya.

"She deserves it, you know? Like, she's a bitch. She hurt my friend's brother."

"Oh, I see." Talia nodded, "But still, isn't that a little harsh to try to fuck her whole future up? She's really young."

"And deaf." He added, "So stupid, like she can't hear me when I yell at her."

"That's actually offensive you know." Talia narrowed her eyes, but then realized she was supposed to agree with him, if she wanted any information from him. But still, she had some morals.

"Yeah. Well, whatever." He waved her off.

"You are such an ass." Talia snapped at him. "Anyway—"

"She deserves it."

"So, if someone was mean and treated your sister that way you'd be okay with it?"

"Well, no. That's different I love Becky to death."

"Yeah, well, she's someone's sister. Think about how they feel."

"Her sister's dead."

"I hear she has a brother."

"Oh yeah, he got his ass kicked the other day."

"I don't believe you." Talia rolled her eyes. "Alright, look. Give me one reason why you want to hurt her."

"Well, it's not me, it's mostly Jon, but I know something she doesn't know."

"And what's that?"

This was easier than she thought it was going to be, getting the secret out from him.

And she sure got it, her eyes opened wide, and then she abruptly stood up.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go… pee or something." She said a moment later, and numbly walked away from him, as fast as she could. She ignored his annoyed look of protest. She didn't even notice Jake had followed her until he had cornered her against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded.

"I…oh my god." Talia shook her head.

"What did he tell you?"

"He told me that—" She cut herself off, "wait until we meet up with Fiona later, I'll tell you then, but right now, I have to go." Not bothering to wait for an answer, she walked away from him, out of the school, and kept going until she got to a park.

She soon found a bench, and sat down, her head in her hands, she started to think, and then she heard the sound of someone giggling. But she ignored it.

"Hey, are you okay?"

That voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Uhm… miss?"

She slowly lifted her head, and her mouth dropped open even more.

"No, no that's not possible." She shook her head blinking. "You're—you cant be here, you're supposed to be dead."

The girl blinked at her confused. "Sorry?"

"Are you Katie?"

She blinked again. "Who's Katie? My name is Chloe."

Talia blinked her eyes more, and then looked at the boy next to her. "Who are you?"

"Chill, he's just my friend."

"Oh," Talia stood up, her hand dropping to her side a moment later. "That's just great, just a friend and you're not Katie, right, because you look _exactly _like her. You're supposed to be dead at least that's what I'm told, but actually someone told me just a few moments ago, that that probably wasn't true and well, here you are. That's insane. Do you by chance know a Luke?" She turned to face her and the girl blinked her blue eyes. The same damn blue eyes Maya had.

"Are you going crazy?"

"Answer the question, do you know a Luke?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah I do."

She wasn't expecting that at all. She was just hoping it was a coincidence.

Shit, Talia thought. Shit, shit, shit.

"You look like you've seen a ghost or something." The boy said and Talia nodded.

"I think I just did." She agreed and she looked at the girl. "And _you're_ that ghost."

* * *

**Plot twist, right? Boom. Originally though, Maya was gonna be the one to see her, but I decided to go with Talia. Dun... mother fucking dun... dun.**


End file.
